The Next Generation
by Lady of the Witty Remarks
Summary: James Potter, Harry's son, is starting Hogwarts. Down the street lives a Muggle girl he didn't know existed until he found out she was a witch. He takes her under his wing and opens her eyes to the Wizarding World. Pen name formerly twilight fan Kate.
1. Prologue

I wandered hopelessly through the corridors, trying to find a way out. I wondered absently how I had gotten into this mess. I knew that it had something to do with the fact that my dad was one of the most famous wizards of all time. But I didn't think it was fair that _she_ had to go through this with me.

I knew that if I didn't find a way out, I, and the girl next to me, would be murdered. She didn't deserve death, and, frankly, neither did I. Yeah, I'd broken a lot of rules, played pranks on a lot of people, but that didn't mean I deserved to die, did it? Well, maybe it did, but still, I didn't _want _to die. I wanted to live.

For the first time in my life, I was scared.


	2. The Princess Ball

**Chapter One**

"James Sirius Potter!" my dad yelled from the bottom of the stairs, his voice angry. I decided to play innocent.

"Yeah, Dad?" I asked from the top of the stairs, leaning down so I could look at his livid face.

"Do you have any idea how Al's science project was mysteriously replaced with a toothpaste-and-vinegar mixture?"

"No," I lied. "Why is it that every time something happens around here _I'm _the one who gets the blame?" I asked, pretending to be hurt.

"Because you're always the one that's guilty, Mr. Prankster" he said, walking up the stairs. "If you're so innocent, you won't mind me looking around in your room."

This was _exactly_ what I'd been trying to avoid.

"Um, you know, my room's an utter mess. Why don't you come back in, say, five minutes?" I asked hopefully.

"And you have now proven your guilt. Let me in, James."

"Fine" I said glumly. "I took it. I haven't dumped it, though. I don't want him to get a bad grade. I'll give it back." I turned without another word to go in and grab the stupid science project.

"Thank you," my dad said, instantly in a better mood. He never _really_ got mad at us, unless we were doing something dangerous. "By the way, I've got something for you," he announced as I came back out with the green solution-filled beaker. From the pocket of his work robes, he pulled out a piece of paper.

"What's that?" I asked curiously.

"An invitation to a princess ball, I think," my dad chuckled, "from the girl across the street. Sara, I think it was."

"Well, count me out. Princess Ball," I scoffed under my breath.

"Too bad," he said. "We're all going. _All of us_," he said sternly as I started to object.

"Fine. But I am not-"

"Oh, yes you are dressing up. Your mum already rented you boys tuxes," he told me. "And _please _don't complain. Lily's _so _excited."

He never played fair. Of course I wouldn't complain if it made my baby sister sad.

"Sheesh, Dad. Fine. I'll go. But I won't like it." I pouted and turned to go back in my room. Dad caught my arm.

"Oh, no you don't. You are going to give this back to your brother yourself." He smiled and half-dragged me down the stairs.

I walked into the living room to find my brother Albus reading a book about remembering the periodic table, or something like that.

"_Another_ science book, Al?" I asked. "I mean, really, who cares about the idiotic table?"

"Periodic, James," he corrected me, not even looking up from his stupid book.

"Oh, I know," I told him, smiling. This time he did look up – to glare at me.

"Don't look at me like that," I warned him. "Besides, I've got something for you." I pulled his flask out from behind my back. His face suddenly lit up with delight.

"Oh, thank you!" he said happily. "And it looks exactly like it's supposed to! But how..."

"I… may have paid more attention to your paper-thing than I let on. I may have stolen it, but I didn't want you to get a bad grade, so I took care of it for you."

"You have multiple personality disorder, don't you James?" Al asked me teasingly.

"Yeah, yeah, I'm a pushover. Big deal." I muttered. "Anyway, did Dad tell you about the birthday party for that girl across the street?"

"No, what party?"

"It's some kind of stupid Princess Ball or something, and we _have to wear __**tuxedos**__."_ I told him, feeling like some sort of gossipy girl.

"Ooh!" Al said, looking extremely happy. "I've always wanted to wear those Muggle dress clothes!"

"Gosh, Al," I muttered, disgusted. My own brother wanted to dress up and go to a Princess Ball. "You are _such _a girl."

Just then I heard Lily squeal in what sounded like delight. A muffled banging sound in the ceiling told me that she was jumping up and down like an idiot upstairs. Being only eight, she had a liking for princesses and fairytales. _Muggle _fairytales, as for some reason wizarding fairytales didn't seem to feature princesses.

"Mummy!" Lily shouted, dashing down the stairs as fast as her little legs could carry her.

"What is it, dear?" my mum asked from the kitchen. She had recently found that she enjoyed cooking the Muggle way, without any magic at all, and these days was usually in the kitchen. Not using magic? I couldn't see the draw.

"We're going to a Princess Ball!" Lily gushed excitedly.

"Really?" my mum said with false surprise, already knowing this.

"Daddy just told me!" she informed Mum. "Oh, James!" She rounded on me. "You'll look simply _dashing_ in your tux." She'd taken to using all those fancy words lately. They hurt my ears.

"Yeah," I muttered under my breath. "_Dashing_ home, as fast as I can."

"James-" my dad started warningly from the bottom of the ebony staircase he was standing in.

"Sorry…" I muttered. "Anyway, when is this party?"

"Tomorrow evening," my dad informed me, looking at the invitation. "Ginny, I was hoping the boys could try on the tuxes for size, then you and Lil' could head out to find a dress."

"Sounds good to me," mum told him with a grin. "We'll go in the morning. I'll drop James and Al off at Ron and Hermione's."

"Yes!" Albus said. He and our cousin, Rose, got along very well, seeing as they were both school-obsessed.

"Oh, mum!" I whined. "Why? Can't we just stay home?"

"We will not leave you home alone, James, until we want to come home to a pile of ashes. And you and Al alone in a house without supervision…" He trailed off, and then shuddered. "I'd rather not think about it." …and so the plans were decided.

The next evening was crazy. Dad had gotten called out to catch some Dark wizard or another at work, and he got home only thirty minutes before we had to leave for the party. He and mum rushed around, getting us kids and themselves dressed and ready to go. Mum had rented Lily a pretty golden, sparkly dress. She twirled around excitedly, throwing around her fancy words while mum tried – and failed – to tame my and Al's 'Potter hair,' which, as Dad reminded her with a sympathetic grin, was untamable.

I had to admit, I felt pretty important walking down the street in my fancy tuxedo. Mum had attempted to get me into a tie, but I felt that this was asking too much of me, and thankfully Dad had agreed. Albus, who was better behaved and weaker-willed than I was, had been talked into wearing a green one which, according to my mum, made his eyes 'pop.' We were all, in Lily's words, 'spiffing.'

As we approached the house that was obviously our destination, (there were fancy lights strung all over the house and the glow of lights from the backyard,) I heard the soft, boring sound of fancy music.

"So James," Dad started with a grin, "what instruments?" Dad had good hearing.

"Um," I muttered, "It sounds like… 3 violins, _2 _violas… and I _think_ I hear a cello." I loved music, and had a great ear for it, too, so I could recognize these things. Classical music, though, was so boring it made me want to grab my guitar and start singing rock music at the top of my lungs.

"Amazing," Dad said, shaking his head.

We walked up to the gate to the fence that surrounded the backyard. A man, dressed to look like a butler, greeted us.

"Welcome," he said in a vaguely bored voice. He sounded like he was just reading lines, not trying to get into the part at all. I recognized this well, as I was into acting, too. "Do you have your invitations?"

Mum handed the man our five invitations. He didn't even look at them before opening the gate to the white fence and gesturing us to enter.

"Some bouncer," I muttered to Al, who snickered.

We walked through the open gate and into the expensively decorated backyard. A large in ground pool was off to one side. It was fenced off, just like the yard itself. There was a nice patio coming off the back door. It was covered by a whole extension to the roof. A nice grill, glass table with pink umbrella (yuck) and fancy, delicate looking chairs sat on the patio, along with what looked very much like a hot tub. The perfectly manicured back lawn was full of chattering people, the men in suits and the women in gowns. A long table was pushed up against the back length of the fence, and it was completely full of gifts.

"Oh, hello!" A mousy looking woman with light brown hair said airily to us, spotting us for the first time. She was wearing a silver gown and holding a glass of wine in her left hand. "Sara, come greet your guests!"

The woman walked toward us, beckoning in our direction to a thin, blonde-haired girl about my age, who was wearing a golden gown. The girl skipped toward us.

"Hello," she said importantly. "It's my birthday. Did you bring gifts?"

"Sara," her mother chided gently, not sounding at all like she meant it.

Dad smiled down at the young girl, a glint of recognition in his emerald eyes, as if he were comparing her to someone else. ""I've got one in my bag for you," he told her lightly. "We do hope you'll like it."

"Sara, darling, why don't you take it over to the table and put it with the others?" Sara's mother asked. Sara grabbed the blue-gift wrapped box and ran over to the gift table, which was already stuffed. My family seemed to be the last to arrive.

"We're new to the neighborhood," Sara's mum told us. "We've just moved in this past June. We decided to invite everyone on the street to Sara's party, so we could get to know everyone."

Now that I listened more, I noticed that this woman's voice, her accent, sounded… false somehow, as though she was an American doing a good impression of our accent. Good, but not perfect. I noticed she didn't make the 'r' sound after Sara's name. British people often made that sound after words that ended in an 'ah' sound, making the 'ah' sound sort of like 'oar.' Hers, however, just sounded like 'ahs'.

"It's very nice to meet you," mum said kindly, her red hair waving in the slight wind. "I'm Ginerva Potter, call me Ginny. This is my husband, Harry. Our kids are, in order of age, James, Albus- "

"Al!" my brother interrupted. He thought the name Albus was strange.

"Al," my mother corrected herself with a smile toward my brother, "and Lily."

"Hi," Lily said timidly.

"I'm Marissa Barnes," the woman told us. "That over there is my husband, Nathan, and our young son, Jon." She pointed – daintily- across the yard at a tall, portly man with thin brown hair and a thin young boy nest to him, also brown-haired. They were both wearing grey suits. "Now come on, join the party."

I was dragged all around the decorated backyard, 'dancing' with whoever decided to grab onto me and drag me along. Mostly it was women my mum's age, who apparently thought I was 'cute.' Eleven year old boys are not _cute. Especially _not James Sirius Potter. In fact, I only put up with them because Dad made me.

I glanced up at the sky in annoyance. It was pitch black, but the August air was warm. I looked at a balcony on the second floor of the house, thinking of asking Dad if I could have one. I could imagine that conversation:

_Dad, can I have a balcony off my window?_

_*looks at me like I'm stupid* _

_What?_

_No, James, you cann_ot _have a balcony._

_*whining* whyyyyy?_

_Because you would use the balcony to sneak out!_

_I would not!_

_Yes you would._

_Would not!_

_James…_

_Fine._

I decided to ask anyway. But as I looked, my hazel eyes locked onto the eyes of another. They held my gaze for a moment, and then they disappeared. My curiosity was piqued. Who was that person? Did they like here? Why weren't they at the party? I _had _to find out. With my amazing skills of memorization, I memorized the location of that window and then went to find Sara. She was dancing with a tall, blonde boy who looked a few years older than us. I recognized him from the Muggle school bus.

"Oi!" I said loudly.

"What?" she asked bitterly. Then she saw who I was and her face lit up, breaking into a dazzling smile. "Oh, it's _you._" The way she said it was disgusting. "Do you want to dance?"

The boy she was dancing with frowned and glared at me.

"No. actually…" I suddenly realized that I had no plan and I groped around inside my head for an idea. "Actually… I need to use your loo."

"Oh," she said, disappointed. "Oh, okay. Come on, then."

I followed her through the sliding glass door into a clean, metal kitchen. Seriously, it looked like it was made completely of metal. She led me up a carpeted staircase, down a hall and into the second door on the right. She stood at the door.

"Um… some privacy, maybe?" I asked her.

"Oh, right." I closed the door and listened to her walk down the stairs. I waited to hear the quiet thud of the screen door closing, and then I set out to find the room belonging to the window. It wasn't difficult. If found the room at the end of the hall. Not being one for social graces, I simply opened the door without knocking and walked in.

It was a small, startlingly clean bedroom. A small, plain bed sat along the wall. And on that bed sat a girl. She looked remarkably similar to Sara, save for the fact that this girl was crying.

She looked up at the sound of my unannounced entrance and gasped.

"Get out!" she said, sounding a load more worried than angry.

"Why?" I asked. "Don't like strange men in your bedroom?" I smiled at her, and she let out a strained giggle. "And anyway, if you live here, why aren't you at the party?"

"I'm not allowed," she explained, looking bewildered, like she wasn't used to talking to people. She stood, crossed the room, glanced furtively down the hall, and dragged me farther inside the room, closing the door as she did.

"You're grounded?" I asked. "Brilliant! What did you do?"  
"I'm not grounded," she told me. I opened my mouth to ask her why she wasn't allowed out, then, but she cut me off. "I don't exist."

"What?" I asked stupidly. "But then, how are you here, if you don't exist? Wait1 oh crap! I'm going mad!" I was joking around again, trying to get her to laugh instead of crying like she was. I hated it when people cried, even my brother. And she did laugh again, though it sounded like she hadn't done in a long while.

"Let me clarify. I don't exist outside of this house. My parents keep me locked in the house. Even Nathan's – I mean," she swallowed, her face full of disgust, "_Dad's_ – relatives don't know I exist."

"What?" I asked incredulously. "Why in the name of Merlin would anyone do a thing like that?"

"My mom and dad don't like me very much," she informed me quietly, her voice and eyes both full of tears. "Don't ask me why, I don't know." I noticed for the first time that she spoke in a distinctly _American _accent. I'd have to ask her about it later.

_ "_Why don't you-" I started to ask, but at that moment the door flew open and a _furious _Mr. Barnes came bursting through the door.

"What the hell are you doing in here?" he bellowed at me. I flinched back, not used to really being _yelled_ at. "How DARE you go snooping around in my home? Who do you think you are? We invited your family here to our house as an act of generosity and welcome, and how do you repay us? You little brat!"

He lifted a large, muscular arm to hit me. I cringed away, my glasses sliding down on my nose3. I braced myself for impact.

"Don't. You. _Dare_." I heard a voice say from the door. If was Dad, and both is body and voice were shaking with fury. I had _never,_ in my _life,_ seen him that angry. It was scary. "If you lay so much as a _finger_ on my son-" he chuckled humorlessly, "– you'll regret it."

"This boy has no right to go sneaking about in my house!" Mr. Barnes shouted at my Dad.

"And trust me, he _will_ be punished for it," dad told him, looking at me. "But that is _my _job, and his mother's. Not yours. Now get away from my son."

Mr. Barnes glared at my father for a moment, but Dad stood his ground, so Mr. Barnes backed away to let me pass. Dad and I walked in silence down the stairs, Mr. Barnes leading the way. I heard the girl sobbing on the stairs, begging me not to go. I hated to leave the poor girl in that horrid house all alone, but at the moment I had no choice. I vowed to sneak out to see her later. Our little group of three walked through the kitchen and out into the backyard, where the rest of my family was standing together, talking to one of the neighbors.

"c'mon, guys," Dad said, almost lazily. "I think it's about time to head home. You kids need to get to bed."

Mum looked at Dad, and they had a silent conversation. She said goodbye to the neighbors she had been talking to, and then she looked around for our hostess. Spotting her, she led us over.

"It's time for us to be heading back home, I think," mum told her. "Thank you so much for inviting us here. We all had a wonderful time."

"Yes, thank you so much, ma'am," dad said, and us three kids also chorused "thank you" like we'd been taught. We left the yard, listening to Lily gush about how wonderful her ball had been.

I was not happy, to say the least. That girl, that poor girl. I'd left her there all on her own with those horrible people who hated her. She was all by herself, alone, lonely. I felt worse than I ever had in my whole life.

"What exactly happened, Harry?" my mum asked Dad, curiously.

"James decided to go exploring," he told her, sounding tired. As I was always getting into trouble, I understood.

"But I saw a girl! I said urgently. "All by herself, up in that room! I was wondering why she wasn't at the party. Besides, she looked like she could use some company!'

"James Sirius Potter, that is no excuse. You do not go snooping around people's houses!" mum sounded furious.

"You know what she told me?" I said, ignoring my mum, too worried for the girl to care about my punishment. "She told me she has to pretend she doesn't exist. Like… Dad, remember the time you told us about when those Mason people came to your house when you were little, and your Aunt and Uncle said you had to go up to your room and pretend you didn't exist? Well, it's like that, only worse, because she has to do it _all the time! _That 's what she told me!"

At this my father bit his lip. "Are you sure, James?"

"Unless she was lying!"

He sighed. "James, I'm afraid that this is a hard one. I'm glad you found that girl, but you should have come to your mum or me. Under no circumstances are you to go sneaking around other peoples' homes."

He paused to unlock our front door. We went inside. I was told to sit on the couch. My siblings were told to go upstairs and get ready for bed. Mum and dad tucked them both in, and then came down to talk to me.

"James, we're very, very disappointed in you," dad told me. "Tomorrow, you will be cleaning this house. That means your chores, your brother and sister's chores, and anything else your mother or I come up with, understand?"

"Yes, dad," I muttered sadly. I yawned. The ball had taken a lot out of me.

"Get to bed," dad said, a smile on his face. He ruffled my hair and stood up.

"Sir yes sir!" I said. I hugged him, allowed Mum to kiss my head before I hugged her too and jogged up to the bathroom to brush my teeth. I almost felt special when brushing my teeth, because out of the three of us kids, I was the only one to use mint toothpaste.

You may wonder why I'm talking about brushing my teeth. Well, think about it. You read tons and tons of stories, and in how many of them do the characters brush their teeth? See what I mean? I don't want you to think I'm unhygienic!

Anyway, I finished brushing my teeth and walked to my room to put on my pyjamas. I had just crawled into my nice, warm bed when Mum and Dad came in to tuck me into bed. They hugged me once again and told me they loved me, then headed back downstairs for some alone time.

No sooner had they left when Albus came into my room.

"Breaking the rules, Al?" I asked, trying to sound buoyant. I was actually shocked. "You know we can't get out of bed after we get tucked in, unless we're going to the bathroom or something like that!"

"Well…" Al said, looking guilty.

"Why do you look so guilty?" I asked him incredulously, sitting up and putting my glasses back on. "I'm so proud of you!"

He glared at me.

"What?"

"Nothing," he muttered. "Anyway, what did you do this time?"

"Ah, Al," I said knowingly, "I should have known you weren't just here to pay your dear old brother a visit. You're here for gossip!"

"Shut it, James," he said, sounding annoyed. "I just want to know why you had to go and ruin a perfectly good time."

"Well, there was a person, and I was wondering why they weren't at the party, so I investigated." I suddenly wanted to tell him, to confide in my brother. It felt weird. But I began to speak faster. "She's a girl, and I think she might be twins with that Sara girl. But she was holed up in her room all by herself! She says that she's not allowed to exist. I mean, no one can know she's there. It's horrible. Then," my voice got lower, and the stress of my memories came through in my voice, "then, their dad came in, and he was _furious. _So mad that he was screaming. And he tried to hit me."

Albus's eyes got huge. "He tried to _hit you?"_

"Yeah. It was scary. But then Dad came in. you should have _seen him, _Al. I have _never_ seen him that mad. He looked like he could have cursed Mr. Barnes' face off! So he screamed at Mr. Barnes, then we left. That girl, though. She was crying on the stairs, begging me to stay. I wanted to stay so bad! So I was thinking," I hesitated at telling him my plan. He might rat me out. But I decided to tell him anyway. "I was thinking that tomorrow night; I'm going to sneak out to see her. Please don't' tell Mum and Dad!"

He sat there and thought for a minute, then pushed his glasses up on his nose and looked at me, determined. "How can I help?"

I stared at him incredulously. "You... you mean it?" I spluttered.

"This girl sounds like she needs help. We don't want her to grow up like dad did. That would be bad, I think. She needs a friend."

I won't lie. I hugged him. Hard.

"I'm so proud of you! So proud! My baby brother's turning devious!"

"I am _not, _James!" he growled at me, shoving my arms off. "I'm going back to bed." He stomped out the door.

"Sweet dreams!" I called after him. He closed the door behind him and I laid back down, taking my glasses off again and setting them in their spot on my bedside table. I tried to think about things, but I fell asleep as soon as my head hit the pillow.


	3. The Escapade

**(A/N)** **Hey, guys. Here's another update. Sorry it took me so very, very long to fix the big empty spots. I'm working on this as hard as I can, with midterms and all. **

I woke up the next morning in an excellent mood. I sat up, breathing deeply. Mum was cooking something for breakfast, and it smelled _amazing._ I put on my glasses and slid out of bed. I thumped down the stairs and plopped myself down at the dining room table, still in my pyjamas. Mum walked out with a plate. On it was a large, fluffy Belgian waffle, and some bacon. I munched happily on my bacon strips as Al, Lily and Dad all came down to the table. We sat at the table, talking and eating our breakfast. Apparently Al's science project thing was doing well. _I _talked about my acting class, which had just ended last week. I hoped to take the next level class next summer. Once everyone was finished eating, we took our plates out to the kitchen, where Mum cleaned them using magic. Apparently, she doesn't enjoy _cleaning _the Muggle way as much as she does cooking like them.

I was just about to go back upstairs to my room when Mum tapped my shoulder.

"Forget about your punishment already, James?" she asked with a smile. She handed me a paper. "Shower and brush your teeth, honey, and then get started on your chores." She patted my shoulder and walked away.

I looked at my chore list and groaned. It was _huge! _I felt like I was being tortured. But I didn't complain. I knew complaining would only reward me with extra chores.

I went upstairs and showered, got dressed and brushed my teeth. Then I got started on the chore list. I worked all day, stopping only for a lunch of grilled cheese and to go to the bathroom. By the time Mum called me for dinner, the only chore I had left was the dinner dishes. We all sat down around the table.

"How much did you get done today, James?" Dad asked me over his meatloaf. He had just arrived home before we sat down, so he was still in his work robes.

"All but the dinner dishes," I answered him, spooning mashed potatoes into my mouth.

"Excellent job, James!" he said. "I'm so proud of you! You must have worked so hard!" Albus snorted under his breath and Mum glared at him.

I shrugged. We chatted again, mostly listening to Dad recap his work day. We finished dinner and I cleared off the table. I loaded up the dishwasher, (which we had gotten just for occasions like this,) and washed the pots and pans without incident. I was just working on the knives we'd used during dinner when Al came into the kitchen.

"Did you have fun working all day, Jamie?" Al asked in a mocking voice.

"Oh, yeah!" I answered, my voice dripping with sarcasm. "It was almost as fun as listening to my little idiot brother talk."

Al exploded. He shoved me forcefully and I fell forward. I felt a stabbing pain in my left forearm. Al and I stared at the sink in shock. Scarlet blood was pouring from a long, deep gash on my arm. We stared at the gushing blood for a moment, and then something clicked in Al's brain.

"Mum!" he shouted loudly, running out of the kitchen. "Dad! James is bleeding!"

Dad shot into the kitchen like a rocket, kneeling on the floor beside me. I had fallen over, the loss of blood making my head dizzy and weak. He touched the gash. I winced back in pain. His fingers came away bright red.

"Ginny, grab me the essence of Dittany!" he called, worry in his voice. "You know I'm no good with healing spells."

Mum ran into the room with a small bottle. She poured some of it onto my arm. I watched in amazement as the wound healed itself before our eyes, turning into a scab that looked weeks old.

Dad, meanwhile, with a wave of his wand, vanished all my blood.

"What happened, James?" Dad asked.

I hesitated. Al hadn't meant to hurt me, I knew that for sure. But he _had _done it. Should I tell?

Al beat me to it.

"I shoved him, Dad, and he fell onto the knife," he said, his eyes still wide behind his glasses.

"He didn't mean it!" I said hastily. "He didn't know I had a knife in the sink!"

"I honestly didn't mean to hurt him, Dad," Al said worriedly. "I'd never do something like this on purpose!"

"You're still in big trouble, Al," Dad told him. "Whether you meant to hurt your brother or not, you still did."

"That's not fair!" I said angrily. "If you have to punish him, then punish him like you would have if he had just shoved me onto the couch or something!"

All three of them looked at me like I was crazy. That may or may not have been because all I ever do is pick on Albus, but what's a guy to do?

"James is right, dear," Mum murmured suddenly. Dad sighed.

"I suppose he is, isn't he? Albus, go up to your room for a while."

Al nodded. I suppose he thought he deserved it.

"Did you only have that knife left?" Dad asked.

"Yeah."

"Go sit down and relax, James. I'll finish up. You did so well today. You deserve a break," he said.

"I can-" I started, getting up, but he silenced me with a look and I trudged out to the living room and flopped down on our tan sofa. About five minutes later, Al came back down the stairs with a weird look on his face. It seemed like he might have been crying.

"Albus…" Mum said warningly, but Al just walked up to me, gave me a hug, muttered "I'm sorry, James," and walked back up the stairs.

"That was… weird," I said, looking at Mum. She just smiled.

That night, after I was absolutely sure Mum and Dad were in bed, I snuck out. It was actually a lot easier to do that you might think. I walked quickly down our road, hoping none of the neighbors would notice my wanderings. I climbed the fence into the girl's backyard and proceeded to climb up to the top of the balcony. It took a lot of skill. Once I was safely up there, though, I rapped quietly on the window.

It took about a minute, but finally the girl opened her window.

"You!" she gasped, her face contorting with worry. "What're you doing here? If my dad-"

"Relax," I said calmly. "I sneak out all the time! And I haven't been caught yet."

She looked vaguely impressed. "But still, why are you here?"

"I wanted to talk to you," I told her. "Can I come in?"

"Oh! Of course!" she said, backing up so that I could enter.

"I feel like a creeper," I muttered, and she grinned.

"So what have you been up to?" she asked, sitting down on the edge of her bed.

"Cleaning," I told her. "I got in a lot of trouble for sneaking around your house, but I think your story softened Mum and Dad up a little bit, though."

"You told them about me?" she asked, sounding surprised.

"Of course!" I said. "I've been worried about you, you know. You didn't get in trouble because of me, did you?"

She didn't answer, which confirmed my suspicions.

"I'm so sorry!" I gasped. "I didn't mean for you to get in trouble!"

"It's not your fault!"

Suddenly there was the sound of a door closing down the hall and footsteps coming toward the door. Our eyes went wide.

"Go!" she whispered urgently. I didn't need telling twice.

"Bye!" I whispered back at her before fleeing back out the window. I climbed down to the ground, vaulted the fence and sprinted as fast as my legs could carry me back to my house. I opened the door to find myself face to face with…

Al.

"Thank goodness you're finally back!" he said in a whisper. "Mum woke up to go to the bathroom once, and I thought she'd catch you out of bed for sure."

"I'm still surprised that you haven't ratted me out, Al," I said, impressed.

"We should get back to bed before one of them gets up again," he said with worry.

And so he and I went up the stairs as quietly as we could. We snuck back into our rooms, shutting our doors behind us. I crossed to my bed and climbed in, slipping off my glasses and lying back. I began to daydream about Hogwarts. I'd be going this year. I turned eleven in November. I was very, very excited. My aunts, uncles, parents and grandparents had all told us kids everything there was to know about the school, and my excitement was mounting more and more each day. My Uncle George, a notorious prankster and one of my many role models, had told me in secret that my dad had a map of the whole school. According to him, the map showed all the secret passageways and even showed all of the people inside the grounds. I was planning to go looking for the map in my dad's room soon. I fell asleep planning all the trouble I was going to cause. That school didn't know what was coming.

**(A/N) Thanks for reading! Please review so I know you're reading! I'd love some constructive criticism, too!**


	4. Revelations

A few days later, my family was sitting in the living room, waiting for Dad to get home. We were watching Mary Poppins, one of my favorite movies of all time. That Bert guy? Pure awesome. I practiced his songs in my room all the time, accent included.

Dad had perfect timing. He got home just as the credits rolled. After he had finished being attacked by my little sister, he went up the stairs to change into his Muggle clothes. He came back down and flopped onto the couch, wincing. Mum noticed at once.

"What happened?" she asked worriedly, rushing to his side.

"Oh, nothing, love," Dad told her, a small smile on his lips. "The wizard stunned me, but we were only some 30 feet off the ground, and Ferris was able to slow me down before I hit the ground. I'm just a little sore, Gin."

"Oh…" she muttered distractedly. She started fussing with his hair.

"I've been elected to deliver a Muggleborn her Hogwarts letter tomorrow," he told us conversationally, sitting up and batting Mum's hands away from his head.

"Isn't that usually done by a professor?" Mum asked.

"Yeah, but this girl lives very close by," he answered. "On this street, in fact."

"Well, for now, it's time to start dinner," Mum said, standing up. "Who wants to help?"

We all decided to. We made beef stew and also some bread pudding. By the time dinner was done, my mouth was watering so much that I thought I should be drooling. It was thick and warm and filling. Albus did the dishes once we were finished.

After dinner, the family got out our Wii. I know what you're thinking. Wizards playing a Wii? Well, let me tell you, some of those games are _fun._ Since the Wii has four remotes and our family has five people, we rotated through the games.

We got bored with the Wii after a while, so Dad and Al got out Al's wizard's chess set, and Mum and Lily played gobstones. I, on the other hand, went up to my room to practice guitar and to research some new songs to learn. I had so many songs memorized. I could quite easily be pulled without warning up onto a stage and still play – well – for quite a while. I was trying to get a certain song down now. It was an American song called 'Start a Band,' and I liked it a lot. The guitar solos would have been amazing to do with another person, because they were _perfect _for a guitar battle. I was hoping to find someone I could play it with someday, but for now I was stuck playing solo.

I made a lot of headway on the song. As I struggled to learn the last little bit, I became aware of someone standing in the doorway, watching me. I spun around to see Dad leaned up against the doorframe, smiling at me.

"I don't know where you get that talent," he told me, straightening up and walking in. "Your mum and I are both better at Quidditch."

"It's magic," I told him, a grin on my face. "You really think I'm good?"

"I really do, James." He ruffled my hair.

"What if there's no one at Hogwarts who likes music like I do?" I asked him worriedly.

"Then I suppose you'll just have to find someone who likes pranks," he said solemnly, but I could see a smile in his emerald eyes.

I grinned. "Oi, Dad, speaking of Hogwarts, can I come with you to meet that Muggleborn?"

"I don't think so, James," he said.

"But what if they need moral support?" I asked quickly. "From someone their age, you know? It'll be my first year at Hogwarts, too!"

"Time for bed, James," came Mum's voice from the doorway.

"But-"

"We'll talk about it in the morning, James," Dad said.

"Come get us when you're ready for us to come back," Mum said, and they left to go tuck in my siblings. I got dressed for bed, pulling on the orange Chudley cannons pyjamas that my Uncle Ron got me for Christmas one year. They weren't my _favorite _team, but they were alright. I then traveled to the bathroom, where I proceeded to brush my teeth. Finishing with that, I ran down the stairs.

"I'm ready for bed," I told them. They were watching the wizarding news (a recent development,) and they looked rather worried. But they stood up and followed me up the stairs nonetheless. They tucked me in bed and said goodnight, then left again, Dad flicking out the lights behind him and plunging my large, golden room into darkness.

The next morning was rather hectic. Apparently Teddy was coming over to visit that afternoon, and for some reason my mum thought that meant she had to make as much food as a Hogwarts house elf. So instead of a homemade breakfast, we had cereal. Muggle cereal. I liked cereal, but warm food is much, much better.

I showered and brushed my teeth, then pulled on jeans and a _Muse _t-shirt. I jogged down the stairs, whistling '_Chim Chim Cheree__' _ to myself. I saw Dad opening the door to leave.

"Where are you going?" I asked him.

"To talk to that Muggleborn's family," he answered.

"But you said we'd talk about me going with you!" I protested angrily.

He stood for a moment and thought. "No funny business?" he asked me skeptically.

"I promise!" I said quickly. I put my right hand over my heart. "I solemnly swear that if Dad takes me with him, there will be no funny business."

"I want to come too!" Lily cried, rushing over to us. "Daddy, please?"

"Lily, love," Dad said quietly, "we don't want to overwhelm the poor girl, do we?"

"James gets to go!" she protested. "It's not fair!"

"Lily, love," Mum said from the kitchen doorway, "why don't you come help me cook? We can make a surprise for Daddy!"

"Okay!" she said happily. "Bye Daddy! Bye James!"

She ran into the kitchen.

"Thanks, Ginny," Dad said in relief. "C'mon, James. Let's go.'

We walked out the door and out into the bright August sunlight. He walked down to the sidewalk.

"No car?" I asked, confused.

"We can walk, it's not far."

"Al…right," I said, thoroughly confused. But when we turned up the walk of a house and headed for the front door, I understood. After all, I had only been here a few nights ago.

"Oh, no," I muttered. "Don't tell me that awful Sara girl is the Muggleborn!"

"James!" Dad said, "That is _not _a nice thing to say!" he knocked on the door. As I listened to footsteps approach, I realized something. He hadn't answered my question.

"Hello," said Mrs. Barnes with a smile. "What are you two doing here?"

"Who is it?" came Mr. Barnes' voice from the living room.

"Two of the Potters," she answered him. "Now, what can I do for you two?"

"I have something to talk to you about," Dad told her, "and James came to help me."

"Well, come on in and make yourselves at home."

We did just that. We walked into an entryway and were led through a large arch into a living room. It was large, with tan carpet and darker brown paint on the walls. Hanging on these walls were paintings that looked extremely expensive. There was a large flat screen television on the wall, and Mr. Barnes and Jon were watching football (not to be confused with _American _football.) They were sitting on a cream leather sofa, which did not look nearly as comfortable as ours. Cream curtains that matched the sofa framed the large front windows. The whole room seemed more like a show than an actual lived in room, but that may have been because I was so used to the oddities of our family that normalness seemed fake, somehow.

"Now, what is it that you needed to talk to us about?" Mrs. Barnes asked.

"I'd like your daughter to be here as well, if you don't mind," he told her. "It'll be a lot easier on everyone that way, and I'll only have to explain once.

"I'll call her. Sara!" Mr. Barnes shouted.

"I... wasn't talking about Sara," Dad said awkwardly as Sara clomped down the stairs. She was wearing a dreadfully pink and frilly dress.

"Whoever were you talking about, then?" Mrs. Barnes asked, but I saw her eyes narrow in fear.

"Samantha," Dad said shortly. "I'm talking about Samantha."

The Barnes' eyes all widened. I looked at Dad like he was insane.

"Samantha?" I asked him. "Who in the name of Merlin is Samantha?"

Dad didn't answer me. "Could you call her for me, ma'am?" he asked Mrs. Barnes gently.

"Samantha!" she called, still staring at Dad like he was mental. I heard the sound of feet coming down the stairs. They sounded quite as if they would have rather stayed upstairs. Then the feet came into view. Followed by legs. Followed by... her.

"You?" I asked incredulously. "_You're _Samantha?"

"What're you doing here?" she asked, sounding thoroughly scared.

"Samantha-" Dad started, but she cut him off.

"Sam," she told him.

"Okay, Sam. I am Harry James Potter, Head Auror for the Ministry of Magic. And this," he handed her a letter addressed to Samantha Marks, "belongs to you. Read it out loud."

"Alright, here it goes," she said. She opened the letter and cleared her throat.

"Dear Students,

We are pleased to inform you that you have a place at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. Please find enclosed a list of all necessary books and equipment.

Term begins on 1 September (or when you happen to register). We await your owl after registration."

She stopped and raised her head in disbelief. "Witchcraft? Wizardry? That's not real!"

"Wow Sam," I said with a smile. "You remind me of Al." I made a gagging sound, and my dad scowled at me but didn't say anything.

"But it _isn't _real, is it?" she asked.

"I don't know," Dad said mildly. He pulled out his wand and said loudly and clearly, "Expecto Patronum!" His silver stag Patronus burst forth. He had it canter once around the room. It came to a halt in front in front of the disbelieving Barnes family, minus Sara, before disappearing completely.

"This can't be happening," Sam whispered. "I can't be a wizard."

"You're absolutely right," I told her matter-of-factly. "You can't."

"Then why in the world did he just-" Mr. Barnes said before he saw my dad glare at me.

"I thought you said you were going to _help _me, James," he said.

"No," I disagreed. "I merely promised that there would be no _funny business."_

"Please explain to us what's going on here," Sam's mom practically snarled.

"You know, Mrs. Barnes? You remind me of my Great Aunt Petunia," I informed her. Dad glared. "Fine," I muttered. "I merely mean that only blokes can be wizards. Girls are _witches_."

"You," Sam said with a smile, "are a jerk, you know that?"

"Now you _really _sound like Al," I said, making another face. Sam giggled.

"Well, whether she's been accepted or not, she's not allowed out of this house. As much as you - and the rest of the world, for that matter - are concerned, she doesn't even exist."

"Wow," my dad said again. "And I thought the Dursleys were bad. They may have made me live in a closet, but at least they let me out of the house."

"And what did these _Dursleys _do when they found out you were a wizard?" Sam's dad snapped.

"Well, they refused to send me to 'some freak school'" Dad told him.

"Then so will we!"

"You didn't let me finish," Dad said. "They refused to send me, so the man who came to get me gave their son a pig's tail. I'm sure your daughter Sara would look very nice with one." Dad grinned. Personally, I was shocked. I never thought my dad would even _think _of pranking.

Just as dad had obviously planned, the color drained from her parent's faces.

"You aren't serious," Mrs. Barnes said, pulling a horrified Sara as close to her as possible.

"Nope," I said. They all looked at me again.

"James…" Dad said warningly.

"What is he going on about now?" Mr. Barnes growled. Dad sighed.

"My Godfather's name was Sirius, as in the constellation," he told them, turning to glare at me again. I just kept grinning at him. "James seems to think the pun is funny."

"Wait until you see Diagon Alley," I gushed excitedly to Sam. "It's _amazing_."

"How will I see it?" she asked.

"When you go to London, to get your things," I told her. "You have to buy the school things they require in the letter."

"We aren't buying this girl anything!" Mr. Barnes said angrily. "And we will not be taking her anywhere!"

"Then she can come with us," Dad said. "My family is going today to get James' school things. I don't mind bringing her along."

"Fine!" he shouted suddenly, standing up and pointing toward the door. A look of worry crossed dad's face and he stood.

"C'mon, James, Sam," he said, heading toward the door. I didn't need telling twice. The memory of the night of the party was still etched in my mind. Mr. Barnes opened the door and the three of us filed outside.

"And she will never enter this house again!" he shouted, slamming the door behind us.


	5. Diagon Owly

**(A/N) Hey guys. Sorry for this extremely long period of unproductive-ness. I got the computer taken away for a loooooooooong time. But I'm back now! =) The next parts are gonna be hard for me to write, because they aren't the parts that I'd already made up in my head. I'm gonna do the best I can to update frequently, though. Thanks to all of you who review! **

"Well, now what?" I asked Dad, frowning. "If she can't go home…"

"…Then she'll have to stay with us," he finished for me, running his fingers through his hair in stress. "C'mon, kids. Let's go."

We walked back home. It was hot out, and very humid. The neighborhood seemed deserted, as everyone wanted to stay inside. Sam seemed very uncomfortable, and she became tenser and tenser as we got closer and closer to the house. We went up the walk to the door. Dad opened it and stepped back, holding it open for us. Sam backed up a little, unsure about going in.

"Go on in, Sam," he encouraged. "We don't bite."

She smiled shyly and slowly crossed the threshold into the house. I followed her in, and Dad shut the door behind us. Sam stood awkwardly in the doorway, so I grabbed her arm and dragged her into the living room, where Al was watching some science show. He looked up at the sound of our entrance. Only noticing me, he dove for the remote.

"Come off it, Al," I said impatiently. "I'm not here to change the channel."

"Who's that?" he asked curiously, noticing that there was a person next to me for the first time.

"Very observant today, aren't we, Al?" I asked sarcastically. He glared. "Al, this is Sam, the Muggleborn Dad was talking about last night," I told him. "Sam, this is my little brother, Albus."

"Hi," she said quietly.

"Hiiii…" he said, sounding confused. 'Why is she here?"

"Long story," I told him, flopping down next to him on the couch and patting the cushion next to me. "C'mon and sit down, Sam."

She looked at me for a moment before walking over and sitting tentatively down next to me, looking positively petrified.

"Don't worry," I told her with a teasing smile, "I won't let you contract Albus's nerd disease!"

"I'm not a nerd!" Al said, loud and angry.

"Boys…" Mum's voice came warningly from the kitchen.

"She's no fun," I muttered under my breath, and Sam giggled.

Dad and Lily both came into the living room. Lily jumped up onto my lap. Being only eight, she was very… clingy. But I didn't mind.

"I talked to your Mum," Dad told us, sitting down on yet another of the many couches in our living room. "And we decided that after lunch we're going to Diagon Alley to get your school things."

"Yes!" I shouted, and everyone on my couch jumped. "Dad, can we go to Uncle Georges' shop too? Please?"

"I suppose we could pay George a visit, yes," Dad said with a smile.

"Yay!" Lily cried happily. Sam looked confused.

"What's Diagon Alley?" she asked.

"It's this huge street in London, filled with nothing but wizarding shops," I explained. "Everyone buys their school stuff there. My uncle owns a shop in Diagon Alley."

"I haven't got any money…" Sam said awkwardly.

"We'll pay for everything, of course," Dad told her with a small smile.

"I can't let you!" she said. "I don't want to be a bother."

"It's no bother," Mum told her, showing up in the doorway with flour on her apron again.

"I can't let you spend your money on me like that."

"Well, "I said, "too bad. They're going to anyway."

"In any case," Mum said, "it's time for lunch."

"Yes!" I said again. "Lunch!"

I showed Sam the way into the dining room. We sat down at the table, lunch already being on top of it. Mum had made a really simple lunch of grilled cheese and some pineapples. I wondered why there was flour on her apron until she brought out dessert. She and Lily's surprise for Dad turned out to be treacle tart, Dad's favorite dessert. His face lit up, and he ate his slice eagerly, grinning.

"Thanks, Ginny dear," he said to Mum.

"It was Lily's idea to make it," she told him, grinning at her youngest daughter. "She did most of it by herself, too."

"Well thank you, sweetheart!" Dad said, ruffling Lily's hair.

"It's really good," Sam said quietly. "What is it?"

"Thank you!" Lily said excitedly. "It's treacle tart, Daddy's favorite!"

"Well, it's wonderful," she said kindly.

We ate the rest of the tart in silence, enjoying every mouthful. When we'd all finished, the three of us Potter children helped each other with the dishes. Then we proceeded to get ready to go, Lily brushing her hair and Al and I sitting through yet another of Mum's fruitless attempts at taming our hair. She spent about five minutes attacking our heads with combs and water bottles before finally giving us up as a bad job. We all got ourselves completely ready to go, and then Dad grabbed the black ceramic container holding the Floo powder off the mantle. He opened the lid, took a pinch of the green powder, and threw it into the fire.

"Alright, kids," Dad said calmly as the flames turned a brilliant emerald. Sam jumped. "We're Flooing straight into George's shop."

"Flooing?" said Sam nervously. She was playing with a bit of the brown hair that had escaped her ponytail.

"Yes," said Dad. "Flooing."

"That's a weird word," I announced.

They stared at me.

"Well it is!" I said indignantly. "I mean, listen: Flooing. Flooing. Flooing, flooing, flooing." I said the word with different inflections.

Al looked intrigued. "It is a rather strange word…" he mused.

"Alright," Dad said, clapping his hands, "let's get back to the point, shall we?"

"Fine," I muttered with mock sadness.

"So,' he said, looking back at Sam, "to Floo. We step into the fire, say where we want to go, and we show up there. You've got to watch for the right fireplace. You must also speak very clearly, or you might not end up where you want to." Dad and Mum smiled at each other in some sort of shared memory. "I once mispronounced 'Diagon Alley,' and I ended up in Knockturn Alley. Those two are very close together, connected even," he told her with the smile lingering on his lips. "But Knockturn Alley is a dark place, and you wouldn't want to end up there.

"Okay," muttered Sam, sounding scared and very confused.

"Let James and I go first, Sam," mum offered, "so you can see how it's done."

Sam nodded in agreement, so Mum stepped into the still-green fire, shouted: "Weasleys' Wizard Wheezes!" and disappeared. Sam stared at the fireplace in shock.

"Weasleys' Wizard Wheezes?" Sam asked, looking back at Dad.

"It's the name of George's shop," he explained.

"Oh."

It was my turn. I climbed into the fireplace, feeling the cool, tickling sensation on my skin. I pulled off my glasses, put them in my pocket_, _threw a cocky grin at Albus, and shouted "Weasleys' Wizard Wheezes!" As soon as the words had escaped my lips, I began to spin. I paid very close attention to the fireplaces rushing past my eyes, watching warily until I saw the flash of red that I knew to be Mum's hair. I threw out my hands as I fell out of the fire and onto the floor of Uncle George's storeroom. Mum grabbed my hand and helped me back up to my feet. I brushed the ash off my jeans and put my glasses back on as I looked around.

The storeroom was filled with brightly coloured boxes of all shapes and sizes. Some were for invisibility cloaks (though none of them were nearly as good as Dad's, seeing as that one had come from 'Death himself,') while others were filled with love potions, Peruvian Darkness Powder, and even some gags of Uncle George's and Uncle Fred's invention.

I had never met my Uncle Fred. He had been Uncle George's twin brother, and he had been killed in the Battle of Hogwarts, along with some fifty other people. I had heard a lot about him, though. The Weasley family might miss their son, but they found it easier to cope with the loss if they talked about him and remembered him. Very few stories were told that didn't make us all laugh; my Uncles had been big pranksters.

I was about to go over to one of the boxes, wanting to look through it, when I heard a short, startled scream from the fireplace. I looked around just in time to see Sam fall face first onto the cold cement floor. I hastened over to help her to her feet. She was blushing madly.

"Don't worry about it," I told her with a smile. "The first time Dad flooed, not only did he end up in the wrong place, but he fell on his face and broke his glasses." I smiled at the memory of his story.

"And that, my friend," came a voice from the fireplace, "I why I do not Floo with my glasses on."

We both turned to see Dad standing up and pulling his glasses out of his pocket and putting them back on his face. "Nor do I let my children Floo with them on."

Sam giggled.

It took another few minutes for Albus and Lily to get there too, and then the six of us followed Dad out of the storeroom and into the shop itself. It was crowded as usual. Uncle George had made the name 'Weasley' a household name. Anyone who came into the shop could see why. It was full of all sorts of interesting things. There were diversionary tactics, love potions, pranks, and even some Muggle card tricks. The shop was never quiet, and the only time I had seen it without at least one customer was when it was closed. It may just as well have been the most popular shop in all of Diagon Alley.

"George!" Dad called over the crowd.

"Harry!" a stocky man with flaming red hair shouted back, opening his arms in welcome. "It's so good to see you!" Uncle George wormed his way through the crowd and grabbed my dad's hand, shaking it. "It's been much too long. Where have you all been?"

"Sorry about that, George," Dad said, smiling. "I've been so busy with work and everything."

"Oh, no, Harry!" George said, flinging his arm around Dad's neck. "It's understandable. We've been busy ourselves, or Angelina and I would have brought the kids over ourselves."

He stopped talking at this point; Lily had thrown her arms around his middle and was squeezing him as hard as she could.

"Ginny!" he said after Lily had let go of him. He hugged his little sister tightly.

"It's so good to see you, George!" Mum said. "How are the kids?"

"Hold that thought, little sister," Uncle George said. "When a customer calls, I must answer."

He walked over to the customer who had been trying to get his attention. It was a man with thinning brown hair. He was holding up an empty canister, the contents of which seemed to be all over his clothing. Uncle George helped him clean off, apologizing, and gave him a coupon for a free product. He came back over to us with a harassed look on his face.

"Honestly," he said to Dad, "how am I supposed to keep some bloke's kid from opening a can of dried trick paints all over him?"

"I haven't the slightest," Dad answered.

"Goodness me!" Uncle George said suddenly. "I've forgotten my nephews!" he gasped. "It's good to see you boys."

"Good to see you too, Uncle George," Al said.

"Have you invented anything new, Uncle George?" I asked excitedly.

"I'm working on something right now," he told me with a smile. "No, I'm not going to tell you what it is," he said, interpreting my face correctly. "I want it to be a surprise. Now, who's this girl here? Don't tell me I have a niece I never knew about!"

I laughed. "No! This is Sam, our neighbor. She's shopping with us today."

"Well, it's very nice to meet you, Sam," Uncle George said. "I'm George Weasley. This is my joke shop."

"Dad," I said, running out of patience. "Can we get something? Please?"

"Alright, alright!" Dad said. He handed me three galleons. "That's all you get, James. I mean it." He turned to look at Uncle George. "If we go bankrupt, I'm blaming you."

I grabbed Sam's arm and dragged her along with me. I showed her all around the shop, and then tried to decide on what to buy. We looked at a lot of stuff before I finally decided on a pack of Uncle George's sweets that make you sick. Like the Nosebleed Nougat. You eat one end, and your nose starts gushing blood. You get out of class and are on your way to the Hospital Wing. Once out of earshot of the teacher, you eat the other end, the nosebleed stops, and you are free to do whatever you want until the next lesson. I snuck up to the counter, making sure Mum and Dad weren't paying attention. I made my purchase and then Sam and I returned to the family. It had been nearly an hour since we had arrived.

"Here they are!" Mum said.

"Took them long enough," Al said, rolling his eyes.

"Well, at least _I'll _support my own Uncle's shop!" I said hotly.

"Boys!" Dad said. "Please! Could you stop fighting for even _one minute?"_

"Sorry, Dad," we said in unison as Uncle George laughed.

"Al's right, though," Dad said. "We really do need to be going. We'll see you soon, George."

We all said our goodbyes to Uncle George, then we left the shop and went to get our school things. We got school robes, books, a potions kit, and all of the other things a new Hogwarts student would need.

"Well, I think that's everything," Dad said with a grin when we were finished shopping.

"Dad!" I sighed indulgently. "We still need our wands!"

"Wands?" Dad asked, feigning confusion. "C'mon, James, wands? What do you think we are, wizards?"

We all laughed as Dad led the way to the wand shop. Above the door were these words, printed above the door in ancient, golden, peeling letters: _Ollivanders: Makers of Fine Wands since 382 B.C._

"Wow…" Al muttered. "That shop's been open for a _looooong _time."

"It sure has," Mum agreed.

We went inside. It was dusty in the shop, completely empty except for a few spindly chairs. Those, and a large amount of shelves, each holding at least a thousand long, thin boxes. Attached to one of these was a small, dusty mirror, which reflected the dingy shop back at us. We sat down in the chairs to wait for the owner.

"Tricky to please, aren't you Miss?" Ollivander asked excitedly as yet another wand failed to be a match. He took the yew wand from her (Dad looked strangely relieved) and handed her what had to be the thirtieth wand. "Try this one, then. 11 ½ inches. Dogwood. Core of phoenix feather."

Sam took the wand, looking hopeless. After all, so many wands had failed to be a match for her. But when her long, thin fingers closed around the wand, her face lit up. She waved the wand, and a jet of golden sparks flew out.

"Yes…" Ollivander said. He gave Sam the wand box and turned to Dad. "That would be-"

"Seven galleons, right?" Dad finished for him, fishing fourteen golden coins out of his pocket.

"You have a good memory, Mr. Potter," Ollivander said, accepting the coins.

"M-Mr. Potter?" Sam asked timidly.

"Yes, Sam?" Dad asked, after throwing a "Thank you, Mr. Ollivander!" over his shoulder.

"What- what are galleons?" she asked, looking as though she thought she was stupid.

"Wizarding money," he explained, grabbing quickly onto Al's arm as he tripped over his own feet. "They have the highest value, and they're gold. We have three different coins: Galleons, Sickles, and Knuts. There are twenty-nine bronze Knuts to a Sickle and seventeen silver Sickles to a Knut. You'll get the hang of them, don't worry," said Dad, as Sam looked extremely confused, "I got the hang of them quick enough."

"Okay," she said, still sounding unsure.

"Harry, why don't we stop at Florean's and buy the kids some ice cream?"

"I've never heard a more splendid idea!" Dad said brightly. We led Sam to Florean Fortescue's Ice Cream Shoppe, currently owned and operated by Florean's daughter, as Florean had died while my dad was still in school. She had left the shop's name be, in honour of her father.

We each ordered our ice creams in turn. I ordered a chocolate peanut butter swirl, while Sam ordered some sort of raspberry vanilla stuff that looked very girly. We sat next to each other at the umbrella-covered tables, eating our ice creams in companionable silence.

"Oi, Dad," I said suddenly, just remembering. "Can I get an owl, now that I'm starting school?"

He grinned at my sudden excitement. "I don't see why not, James."

"An owl?" Sam asked curiously. "Why would you want an owl as a pet?"

"They carry the mail," Albus said, in his usual way that made anyone who asked a question sound stupid and made him sound like Einstein. (Don't ask me who Einstein is, I don't know. But Al goes on about him all the time, like he's some sort of god, so he must be a genius.) "Nearly everyone in our world has an owl."

"Nice one, Al," I muttered angrily, as Sam looked embarrassed. "Why'd you tell her something like that?"

We finished our ice creams, me throwing glares at Al every once in a while, and then we headed to Eeylops Owl Emporium. The inside of the shop was full of interesting creatures, but on the down side, it smelled like a mixture of droppings, Owl Treats, and cats. We looked around in interest. There were owls of all colors and breeds, sitting in cages all over the store. On the front counter, there was a cage full of rats, which were showing off by tap dancing, doing back flips, and other impressive moves that made Sam stare at them in awe.

"Go ahead and choose an owl, then, James," Mum said. "I want to get back to George's shop soon." She looked as though she knew something I didn't.

I looked slowly around, taking in all the different options. A large snowy owl was making a racket, as if it wanted out of its cage very badly, but when I approached the cage, it snapped at my fingers and I drew back. Eventually I settled on a handsome tawny owl. Dad paid for him, and the woman behind the counter handed his cage to me. The snowy owl got even louder as we made to leave, hooting angrily and flapping its wings and making the cage shake violently. All at once, the cage fell to the floor with a crash and broke open. The owl flew at us. Thinking it was after me, since it had been so violent earlier, I ducked, but he flew right over my head. Instead, he landed – surprisingly gently – on Sam's shoulder. She smiled in surprise, reaching up to pat the owl's head. It nipped at her finger affectionately, not at all like the vicious way it tried to sever mine.

"Looks like someone's found a friend," Mum said with a smile.

"He's so sweet," Sam muttered, still stroking the owl.

"She!" the shopkeeper corrected.

Sam continued to stroke the owl, smiling sadly. Mum and Dad shared one of those annoying looks that parents are so very good at, then Dad stepped toward the counter.

"We'll take her," he said, handing the gold to the shopkeeper. The woman handed him the owl's cage and, despite Sam's fervent objections, we left the shop with two owls.

We walked back through the crowded streets to Uncle George's shop, so we could use his fireplace to get back home. Mum's rush to get home was soon explained, as someone very familiar was talking with Uncle George in the shop. Someone with neon blue hair.

"Teddy!" I shouted gleefully, running at the eighteen-year-old wizard.

"James!" he said with a smile, pulling me into a quick hug. "It's nice to see you all."

He hugged Al, then Lily, and then Mum and Dad.

"Ted, Ted," I said excitedly, unable to contain myself, "look at my owl!"

"Awesome, James," Ted said with a grin. "And who's this lovely lady? Your girlfriend?"

Sam blushed, but I just grinned. "Shut up, Ted. You know she's not. I've just met her!"

"She's our neighbor, a Muggleborn," Dad explained. "She's going to be staying with us for a while."

"Why?" Teddy asked.

"Her parents are very… Dursleyish" Dad explained. Ted's confused face changed to one of understanding. He reached over and held a hand out to Sam.

"Ted Lupin," he told her when she took it. "Harry's my godfather."

"Oh," Sam muttered. "I'm Sam Barnes."

"Nice to meet you," he said. "I'm just sampling the wares," he told us.

"Ted here's helping us test some of our newer products," Uncle George explained. "Of course," he added quickly as Mum glared, "_I_ test them first, to be sure they're safe. I'd never test them on someone else first."

"You coming round for dinner on Sunday?" Dad asked Ted.

'No, sorry," he answered, frowning. "Grandmum's birthday is Saturday, but I've got another Apparition test, so I'm spending Sunday with her."

"How many Apparition tests have you taken so far, Ted?" Mum asked.

Ted looked sheepish. "This'll be my tenth. I'm horrible at it."

Dad shook his head. "Well, we really must be getting home, Ted," he said. "Sam here is going to be staying with us for a while, so we need to get her set up."

"If you have to," Ted said sadly. We all said goodbye to Ted and Uncle George and went back into the storeroom. I was the last of the kids to go through this time. I smiled at Dad, who smiled back. My glasses were placed in my pocket, and I stepped into the blurry green fire.

**(A/N) Thanks for reading, guys! I hope you like it. I'm always grateful for a review, just so I know who's reading my story. It doesn't have to be anything special, you can even just write 'I read it.' I'm always happy to get more, though. =D**


	6. The Godbrother

(A/N) Hey, I'd like to tell you all that I lied. I stated in an earlier chapter that the Potter house had four bedrooms, but with so many family members, and especially Teddy, I figured the house needed a guest bedroom. So the Potter house has five bedrooms. Why so few? Harry and Ginny find that living modestly help to keep their children from turning into spoiled brats, like some other kids we might know. (cough, cough _Malfoy,_ cough)

"M-Mr Potter?" Sam said nervously. We had been home for over an hour, and we all sat around the dining room table, looking through our new books (Al was immersed in my Standard _Book of Spells, Year One_, as Mum and Dad would not let us have spell books before school.) I looked up from my favourite book, _Quidditch Through the Ages_, to look at her.

"Yes?" Dad replied, looking rather distracted for a moment. He had been completely immersed in the records of a Dark wizard who had been alluding Ministry capture for a few weeks now.

"Am I really going to be staying here for the rest of the summer?" she muttered, playing with a strand of her brown hair.

"Unless your parents decide to take you back again," Dad told her. He looked extremely stressed again. "And as I somehow can't see that happening…" He trailed off. "Why do you ask?"

"I-I was j-just wondering where I'm going to sleep," she said, glancing at him nervously.

"She can stay in my room," I suggested. "She is _my _friend after all." I smiled reassuringly at her.

"We are not having a _girl_ stay in your room, James Potter," Mum chided me. "She can stay in the guest bedroom."

"But then where's Teddy going to sleep when he comes to visit?" Lily asked worriedly from behind her _How to Draw: Princesses _book. Teddy often stayed the night in our house. He always said he had "accidentally" stayed too late to go home, but I thought it might just be that every time he stayed over, Mum made potato pancakes, Ted's favourite.

"In my room," Al and I said at the same time. We glared at each other, ready to have an hour or longer argument, but Dad cut us off.

"If Ted comes to stay, Sam can stay with Lily for that night, and Ted can stay in the guest bedroom as usual," he said, sending a stern glare over at me and Al. "That way no one can _fight over him._"

"You're no fun," I muttered, going back to reading about the Cannons, my favourite team. With Uncle Ron around, I didn't have much choice in that matter.

"c'mon, dear, let's get you set up," Mum said kindly to Sam. They trudged up the stairs to ready the guest room.

The evening went by without incident. Sam was still nervous, but she was quickly becoming comfortable with my erratic family. We sat down in the living room that evening to watch _America's Funniest Home Videos_. I was obsessed with American music and entertainment, and had begged Dad to find a way for us to get American TV. We were all laughing our heads off at some random woman who was loopy from anesthesia when a loud crash resounded from the kitchen. We all leapt off the couch and ran into the kitchen. On the floor sat Teddy, covered in metal pots and pans and bleeding slightly.

"I was aiming for the doorstep," he said sheepishly, extracting himself from the kitchen equipment and standing up.

"Come here, Ted," Mum said gently. She grabbed the Essence of Dittany (which we had been keeping in the kitchen ever since my little… _incident_) and poured a few drops on Teddy's cuts. They healed instantly. Sam made an amazed noise.

"Thanks, Ginny," the neon – turquoise – haired boy said gratefully. He pulled each of us Potters into a quick hug. "Hi again, Sam," he said with a smile, shaking her hand warmly. "You staying the night?"

"Sam will be staying here with us for the rest of the summer, Dad told him, leading us all back into the living room. Ted sat down next to him and Dad threw his arm affectionately around Ted's shoulder.

"Kind of like you and the Weasleys, huh?" Ted asked. "So, what are we watching?"

We went back to what we had been doing before Ted had arrived. It was as if nothing had changed. There was no indication that another person had entered our midst except for Sam's perplexed face.

"Does this happen often?" she asked me in a whisper.

"All the time," I answered, not looking away from the television, "except his grandmum used to bring him. But he finally passed his Apparition test, how, I don't know, but he can bring himself now."

"Apparition?" Sam asked.

"Yeah. You disappear from one place and reappear in another. It's pretty hard, apparently. Teddy's horrible at it."

"Oh."

It was only when the show ended that I remembered something very confusing."

"Oy, Ted!" I said suddenly. "Didn't you say you were spending today with your grandmum?"

"Oh, yeah, I did," Ted answered, standing up and stretching. "I spent the whole day with her, but I'm going to spend the night here."

"Why tonight? Why aren't you staying with her the whole day?" I asked, curious.

"Full moon," he answered simply.

"Ah," I said slowly, suddenly understanding. Ted liked to stay up on the roof with Dad on full moons, since Dad knew Remus Lupin, Ted's father, best of anyone still alive.

Sam looked at me questioningly, but I shook my head. Ted's dad's lycanthropy was a secret in the family, and among really close family friends only, for Ted's sake. She let it go.

"So I'm staying in Lily's room tonight?" Sam asked, obviously still confused by Ted's sudden appearance.

"No, no," Ted said, smiling. Dad had filled him in on the sleeping arrangements we'd planned out earlier. "You can still stay in the guest room. I'm sleeping up on the roof tonight."

"Why?" she asked, already comfortable with him. It was easy to be; Teddy was a nice, relatable person.

"So I can be closer to the moon," he answered honestly.

"Why do you want to be closer to the moon?"

"I like the moon," he answered. "Harry, is it alright if we get set up? I'm awful tired tonight."

"Of course, Ted. It's the kid's bedtime anyway. Just let me tuck them in first, and I'll be right up." Dad replied. He ruffled Ted's hair.

"I'm getting tired of this," he muttered, gesturing towards his hair. "What color do you think I should do next?"

"Green!" Al shouted.

"Lavender!" Lily said with a "romantic" sigh. All three of us guys stared at her.

"Red, maybe?" I asked.

"No, I don't really like red on me."

"Maybe you could dye it black?" Sam suggested. "Then you'd look sort of like James and Albus."

"Hmmm… that's not a bad idea, actually," Ted said thoughtfully. He screwed up his face in concentration, and suddenly his turquoise hair turned jet black, even sticking up in the back just like ours did. Sam stared.

"How-?"

"I'm a Metamorphmagus. We're very rare, but my mum was one. We can change our appearance at will." Ted explained. "Watch." He screwed up his face again, and made himself look like an old man, and then he gave himself a beak before finally going back to normal. Sam looked impressed.

"That's so neat!" she said. "I wish I could be a Metamorphmagus."

"Don't we all," I asked, as Mum came out to the living room.

"Time for bed, children," she said with a smile. All five of us groaned.

"Do we have to, Ginny?" Ted whined, grinning at her.

"Absolutely. I want teeth brushed and pyjamas on by 9:30. It's nine now."

"M-Mrs Potter?" Sam stuttered, becoming shy again. "I-I don't have a toothbrush, or pyjamas or anything."

"I've got you an extra toothbrush from our cupboard, dear," Mum told her. "As for pyjamas, I'll run and get you a shirt of Harry's, and you can wear a pair of James's sweatpants, alright?"

"Sure, I guess," Sam said nervously.

"I don't bite, Sam. You do know that?" Mum asked with a smile, putting her hand on Sam's arm. Sam smiled sheepishly. "C'mon dear, off to bed."

It took until 9:31 to get ready for bed, (I made sure of that,) and Dad came around to tuck us all in before going to stay with Ted on the roof. I had a hard time going to sleep. There was only a week left until September 1st, and I couldn't wait.


	7. The Hogwarts Express

**(A/N) Hey again guys! Thanks for reading! You don't know how much it means to me to have you read my story. It makes me so happy! I'm sorry for the long wait. I tried to upload as soon as I was finished, but the publish option wasn't working. They just fixed it today. I'm adding a snippet of Sam's point of view to this chapter, because I think we need her reaction to the platform, but I don't think James would be the kind of dude who would like waiting when he's excited.**

In Mum's opinion, September 1st came much to fast. It was rainy and cold outside as my family made our way from the car to King's Cross. Dad had to keep a firm grip on Lily's arm to keep her from splashing in the puddles. I was practically _bursting _with excitement. _I was finally going to Hogwarts! How _many stories had I heard from my parents, grandparents, Aunts and Uncles? I was so looking forward to learning how to do magic, to making friends, to starting a band.

Because that was my plan. I was going to find some blokes in my year that had some musical talent, and we were going to start a band. I had made up my mind, and was super excited for term to start.

Sam, however, seemed to be feeling the exact opposite. She looked extremely nervous, and kept glancing back at the car, her eyes wide. Dad seemed to notice this, too.

"What's wrong, Sam?" he asked her. "Did you forget something?"

"n-no," Sam said, her voice shaking nervously. "I'm just scared." she said it like she was admitting she'd done something wrong.

"There's no reason to be afraid, Sam," Dad told her. "Hogwarts was my favourite place in the world. I'm sure you'll love it there."

"B-but I haven't got any friends," she whispered.

I made a fake annoyed noise in the back of my throat.

"What?" she asked, confused.

"What'm I, chopped liver?" I asked. Sam smiled at me.

"One friend," she amended. She looked slightly more confident as we entered the train station.

"Now, where's the platform again?" Dad asked, looking around, trying to be funny. I was too excited to find it so.

"9 and ¾!" I said anxiously, bobbing up and down on the balls of my feet. I started toward the platform, pushing my trolley in front of me. I didn't stop to wait for the family when I got to the barrier between platform 9 and 10. I looked back to make sure my parents could see me, then I charged through the barrier.

Sam's POV

I watched James take off with a growing sense of foreboding. He'd left me. I knew I was being very melodramatic, and that he was probably on the train platform, waiting for us, but I was scared, and not thinking straight.

"9 and ¾?" I asked Mr. Potter, confused.

He laughed at my bewildered expression, but not as if he was making fun of me. He seemed to be remembering some funny memory.

"Imagine us leaving you here now, to get to the platform by yourself," he said with a smile. I shuddered at the thought. How would I get into a platform that didn't exist without them? I didn't think I could manage it _with _them. He laughed again at my expression. "That's exactly what my Aunt and Uncle did to me. Didn't think I'd be able to make it on the platform. They all thought it was terribly funny. But I met some wizards who were running late, thank Merlin. They helped me through."

"I remember that," Mrs. Potter said, smiling at the memory. "That was the first time I ever saw you, Harry."

"And you were very star struck, weren't you Mum?" Albus asked, smirking at her.

"Well," Mrs. Potter said, sounding embarrassed. "I snapped out of it in the end, didn't I?"

"It only took you four years," Mr. Potter teased her.

I was still watching James's retreating figure. He seemed to be heading straight for a wall between to platforms. He was going to crash. Or was he?

"Wh- where'd he go?" I asked, shocked, looking around for him. He had disappeared right as his trolley hit the wall.

"To the platform," Mr. Potter explained. "It's magic. You can go through it if you're a witch or wizard." we pulled up in front of it.

"H-how?" I asked, panicking now. The wall looked very, very solid, and I was quite sure that if I tried to go through it, I'd end up slamming into it.

"Take it at a bit of a run it you're nervous," Mrs. Potter suggested.

"I-I don't want to go first," I muttered, blushing furiously.

"Why don't you take Al and Lily, Harry?" Mrs. Potter asked. "I'll see Sam through."

"Alright," Mr. Potter agreed. "You heard your mum. Through the barrier we go."

The three of them leaned casually on the barrier. I looked at them quizzically. But then, all of a sudden, they disappeared.

"Where'd-?" I asked, bewildered. Mrs. Potter smiled at me.

"Onto the platform," she told me. "Now, dear, what you need to do is run straight at it, holding your trolley out in front of you. You should go right through. Harry will be waiting for you on the other side."

"Okay," I muttered, my insides doing gymnastics. I was going to crash, I knew it. I wasn't a witch! I was normal! All the same, I had to try. I took a deep, calming breath, gripped the trolley tighter, and ran. I screwed up my face as I neared the wall, readying myself for the crash, but I went smoothly through the barrier to the platform.

James' POV

I ran to the train as soon as I passed through the barrier. I found a compartment near the back of the train and stuffed my luggage in it before running back out to the platform. It was extremely crowded. People were running all around, finding compartments, chatting with friends, and saying goodbye to their parents. The scarlet train was creating large puffs of smoke, which faded into nothing as they floated away from the smoke stack. I rushed back to the barrier to wait for Sam and my family, my insides _bursting _with excitement. I watched happily as my dad and siblings came sliding through the barrier.

"Calm _down, _James," Dad laughed, putting a hand on my shoulder to stop my bouncing. "You look as if you're about to explode!"

"I just might," I said excitedly. "Oy, when's Sam coming?" No sooner had I asked this than she came through the barrier. Her face was screwed up in fear, and she was very pale. She opened her eyes and looked straight at me.

"Hi!" I said excitedly, bouncing again. She smiled at my antsyness. Mum came sliding through the barrier right behind her. She looked very teary-eyed.

"I've changed my mind," Mum said, sighing. She put her arms around me, pulling me into a tight hug. "You're not going."

"Can't I get on the train now?" I begged, pulling myself away from my mother. I started bouncing again.

"In a _minute,_ James," Dad said exasperatedly. "We'd like to say _goodbye _first!"

"Bye!" I said quickly. I turned to leave, but Dad caught my arm.

"Oh, no you don't," he said. "Now we have to embarrass you."

"Nooo…" I moaned. Dad disregarded this completely and pulled me into a tight hug, so tight I couldn't get away.

"Bye, my little Jamsie!" he said loudly, for the whole platform to hear. People stopped to watch. "We're going to miss you _so _very much!"

I squirmed frantically, my face going red. People were starting to point and laugh. The whole family was laughing, even _Sam _was laughing (though I took comfort in the fact that she looked very guilty about it.) Dad let go of me so Mum could have her turn and I made a break for it, nearly making it to safety. Nearly.

"Goodbye, my little baby!" Mum said in a falsely teary voice. "We love you, Jamsiekins!" And she planted a noisy kiss on my cheek.

"Mum!" I protested loudly. She let go of me, laughing.

"Sorry, James," she said as the spectators began to disperse, still chuckling at my misfortune, "buy you deserved it."

"Yeah," I admitted, still bright red from embarrassment. The train whistle blew, warning us that we were about to be late. "Bye!" I called, grabbing Sam's hand and dragging her into the train.

"Bye, Mr and Mrs Potter!" she called over her shoulder. "Thanks for everything!"

"Bye!" they shouted back. "Have a good term!"

Sam and I jumped onto the train.

"C'mon," I said. "I've already found a compartment." I led her to the compartment I'd found earlier. To my surprise, there were four other boys in there.

"James…" Sam whispered, suddenly nervous again, "Let's find a compartment somewhere else…"

"My things are already in there," I told her. "And besides, I'm sure they're nice.

Sam still looked apprehensive, but she nodded. I pulled open the door and entered the compartment.

"Is there room enough for two in here?" I asked.

"Only for one," a tall, blonde boy told me. His gaze followed mine to the two obviously empty seats, and he was quick to explain: "One of those is taken," he said, pointing to the luggage above the seat.

"Oh," I said, suddenly smiling, "that's mine. Can we stay?"

"If that's _really_ yours," said the blonde, "then sure."

I sat down in my seat, and Sam sat down next to me. I was right across from the blonde. Sam was looking, terrified, at the boy sitting next to her. I could see why she was worried; he was easily twice her size, but he smiled kindly at her, his shaggy brown hair falling in his face.

"I'm Kagan Brady," he told her in a thick Irish accent, holding out his hand for her to shake. Sam took it nervously.

"Sam Barnes," she said.

"I'm Lewellyn Cadwalader," said the blonde. "It's Lew for short, and you won't call me Lewellyn unless you want to die. These are Fie Morrison," he gestured to a dark-haired boy sitting next to Kagan, "and Marco Quinn." Marco, a boy with reddish brown hair and startlingly blue eyes, smiled.

"I'm James Potter," I told them.

"No way!" Lew said in awe. He looked around, impressed, at the other boys. "Are you really Harry Potter's son?"

"Yeah," I said, shrugging.

"So?" Sam asked timidly, her curiosity prevailing over her fear.

"So?" asked Fie incredulously. "You mean you've never heard of what he's done?"

"She must be muggleborn," Kagan said.

"Do you have a problem with that?" I asked defensively.

"Of course not," he said. "My dad's muggleborn."

"Okay then," I said, relaxing.

"So, what's it like to be the son of famous Harry Potter? Marco asked.

"Pretty normal," I told him. "Except he has a bit of a problem with being, as my Uncle Ron says it, 'being a noble git,' and he gets hurt a lot. Plus, he's made himself a lot of enemies, and we're always kind of worried when he doesn't come home from work when he said he would. But he hasn't been _severely _hurt yet, thank Merlin."

"My mum works in St. Mungo's," Lew told us. "And Dad's a muggle."

"Where are you guys going if you get the choice?" I asked.

"Gryffindor!" they chorused. I grinned.

"Me too," I told them.

"You'll definitely get in," Lew assured me. "You're _Harry Potter's kid! _It'd be a _sin _for you not to."

"I know," I said. "But I suppose it's only natural to worry. What if I got put in Slytherin?" There was a collective shudder among the boys as we imagined being in Slytherin.

"S-sorry," Sam muttered, extremely nervously, "but what are Gryffindor and Slytherin?"

"Houses," I told her patiently. "There are four of them: Gryffindor, Ravenclaw, Hufflepuff, and Slytherin. Gryffindors are known for their bravery and chivalry. Ravenclaws are extremely smart. Hufflepuffs are loyal and hardworking. Slytherins-"

"Are evil gits," Lew interrupted.

"Cleverness," I insisted, turning on him. "I mean, yeah, a lot of Slytherins were evil, but some…"

"You-Know-Who was a Slytherin!" Lew reminded me

"_Voldemort,_" I corrected (all four boys flinched,) "oh, come off it!" I said exasperatedly. "You aren't all afraid of _words, _are you? Some Gryffindors, afraid of the name of a man who's been dead for years!"

"Who was You-Know-Who?" Sam asked.

"_VOLDEMORT," _I said loudly, glaring at her, "was a horrible, evil person who killed people for fun and only cared about blood purity."

"He was terrible, from what I've heard," Kagan said. "No one could stop him! He was invincible."

"Exactly!" Fie said. "But your dad," he gestured to me, "stopped him _twice._ Albus _Dumbledore _couldn't do it. But Harry Potter did. _Twice. _He may just be the most famous wizard _ever._'

"Someone's a fan," I muttered, and Fie turned red.

"Wow," Sam said softly. "Why didn't you tell me, James?"

"Dad doesn't really like to talk about it," I said uncomfortably, not willing to let them know how little I really knew about my dad's adventures. "He lost a lot of people in the war, and it was really hard fro him. He prefers to live in the present."

"Poor Mr Potter," Sam said quietly.

We sat in the compartment for a long time. Chatting about houses, families, watching the countryside fly by our windows. The conversation was about to turn to one of my favourite things - Quidditch - when a voice called from outside the compartment.

"anything from the trolley?" an old witch called. "Anything from the trolley?"

"c'mon Sam," I muttered as we all pumped up to purchase our snacks.

"What?" Sam asked in surprise as she looked at the selections.

"I know," I said. "Wizard candy. It's the best. What would you like?"

Sam shrugged, so I bought her the same things I got: chocolate frogs, Every Flavour Beans, and Drooble's best. I paid the witch, said "thanks" and went back in to our compartment.

"Dang it!" Lew said, frowning at his chocolate frog card. "Merlin again. I swear he's on every other card."

"Give it to Sam, I suggested, pouring her share of candy into her lap and opening my jelly beans. "She can start collecting.

"What?" Sam asked as Lew tossed her the card.

"There are cards in the chocolate frogs," I told her. "Ew!" I shuddered, swallowing hard.

"What?" she asked, looking startled at my sudden exclamation.

"I got a vomit flavoured one!" I said, quickly pulling out a strawberry bean and popping it into my mouth.

There was a collective groan in the compartment. "Those are the worst," said Lew, grimacing.

"You got a vomit-flavoured jelly bean?" Sam asked, surprised.

"You get al sorts wit Bertie Bott's," Fie said. "Sprouts, sardine, pepper, earwax…"

"But there are good ones too," I informed her as she stared disgustedly at her box of beans. "Anyway, back to the cards…"

"Ah!" Sam gasped, staring at her card.

"Disappeared, didn't he?" asked Kagan.

"Yes!" Sam said, her eyes wide.

"That's wizard pictures for you," I explained. "They can move."

"Wow…" Sam muttered.

"So, the Chocolate Frogs all have collectable cards in them." I opened one of the Frogs and ate it.

"Hey!" Sam gasped, snatching the card out of my hand and giving me a paper cut. "Isn't that your dad?

"Yeah," I said nonchalantly. "Now, if you find one of my uncle Ron…"

"I've got two of him!" said Lew. "But I haven't got your dad yet. Trade?"

And so we did. We spent the rest of the train ride eating and swapping cards. It came as quite a surprise when we heard:

"_We will be reaching Hogwarts in five minutes' time. Please leave your luggage on the train; it will be taken to the school separately_."

"Already?" I asked incredulously. "We can't be there yet!"

But he train was definitely slowing. We all watched the dark scenery outside the window as the train pulled into Hogsmeade station. We were finally at Hogwarts.

**(A/N) Thanks for reading! Please review, it's always appreciated! I like to hear what you think, and I LOVE constructive criticism! Anyway, I'd like you to know that each one of James' friends names have a meaning, explained below.**

**Lewellyn Cadwalder: Lewellyn means lion like leader in English and Welsh. Lew means famous warrior in German. Cadwalader means leader of the battle in Welsh.**

**Fie Morrison: Fie means dark of peace in Scottish. Morrison means "darkie" in Scottish, which I thought was a funny way to describe him, as he's the darker one of the group, but still really nice.**

**Kagan Brady: Kagan means a fiery thinker in Irish. Brady means spirited in Irish.**

**And last but CERTAINLY not least: Marco Quinn: Marco means guardian in Greek. Quinn means wisdom in Irish.**

**There you are. Thank you for reading, and putting up with my obsession with names.**


	8. To the Lake Shore

(A/N) Hey again! Sorry for the long spaces between updates, but I don't have a lot of time to write. Besides, I get very few reviews, which makes me sad. =P

Also, we officially have 13 days of school left, which translates roughly to: I"VE BEEN UP TO MY EYES IN PROJECTS AND HOMEWORK! But in my free time at school, I pull out my notebook and write. I have quite a bit written, it's just not _typed. _

Anyway, I'm sure that there will be people who do not agree that James and Fred are the same age, but I like it that way; they seem like a new Fred and George, or James and Sirius. I honestly don't know how old Fred is or when he was born. So… enjoy!

The seven of us jumped off the train and looked around, wondering what we should do next.

"First years!" came a loud, strong voice from our left side. "First years this way!"

We walked in the direction of the voice and joined the large group of first years, suddenly very nervous. The man leading the group, a tall, muscular man with short dark brown hair, led us to the edge of the lake.

"Four or fewer per boat!" he called. I grabbed Sam and dragged her into a boat. Lew followed, but the other three went to find their own.

"James!" a very familiar voice from behind our boat. I turned in my seat to see Fred Weasley standing behind us. "Is it just the three of you?"

"Yep," I answered, grinning. "This is my cousin Fred," I told Sam and Lew as he scrambled into the boat. "He's my Uncle George's son. Fred, these are Sam and Lew."

"Hi!" Fred said, grinning. "Oi, James, I was looking for you on the train. Where were you?"

"Second compartment," I told him.

"How in the bloody hell did you get to King's Cross early enough to get the second compartment?"

"Well, unlike you _Weasleys,"_ I teased him, "we _Potters _aren't always _late."_

Fred grinned. "At least _I_ don't have a _nerd _for a brother!"

I pretended to wince in pain. "Ouch, Fred," I said. "_That _one hurt. I play punched him. He punched back, and we got into such a "violent" fight that we very nearly tipped the boat.

"Oi!" Lew gasped as the frigid lake water sloshed into the boat, soaking him.

"Sorry," I muttered, grinning as I pulled Fred back into the boat (he had very nearly fallen out).

"So you two are pretty close?" Lew asked, still glaring at us for getting him wet.

"Yeah," I answered, throwing an arm around Fred's shoulder. "We were actually born only two hours apart."

"Really?" Sam asked, surprised.

"Yep!" Fred grinned. "My dad was a twin, and he told me once that if he was ever disappointed when the Healer said the heart_beat _sounded fine, he changed his mind once he saw how close James and I are."

"_My _dad just said he's glad we're not actually brothers," I said. "He says he's gotten enough grey hairs with just me running around."

"Watch your heads!" the man's voice shouted suddenly. Everyone ducked, but I couldn't get my head down fast enough.

"Ouch!" I cried as my head smacked against the rock above the opening of a hidden cave.

"Are you alright?" Sam asked, looking at me concernedly.

"Yeah, I'm fine," I answered, touching my forehead lightly. I was relieved at the lack of blood; I didn't want to show up at the sorting covered with the stuff!

We had floated into a sort of dark cavern that I thought must be just under the castle. The boats brushed up against the rocky shore, and we all scrambled out of them. We formed a large huddle behind the man. He stepped up the stairs to a wide door, raised a hand, and knocked.

(A/N) So there you have it! Chapter seven. I was severely disappointed by the lack of reviews from the last chapter; I felt like I was just writing this for myself. I honestly don't need anything much, just a few words to tell me that SOMEONE is reading this! And sorry for the name change, but as time went on I found myself getting more and more annoyed with Twilight, until I felt the need for a name change.

By the way, in case you can't tell, I'm American. But I would like to tell you that I have a "small" obsession with British stuff. And I'd also like this fic to be as accurate as possible. So if anyone finds mistakes with my facts, or ESPECIALLY my British speech, I'd love to have you tell me. =D Also, British culture would be cool too. Just for kicks.

Thanks you guys! I love you, I really, really do!


	9. The Sorting

(A/N) Hey again guys!

_~He stepped up the stairs to the door, lifted his hand, and knocked~_

Nothing happened. The man looked rather confused. He raised his hand again, hesitated, and knocked again. This time, the door opened on a very flustered woman with shoulder length black hair that exactly matched the colour of the ink that covered her from head to toe. The man looked at her questioningly.

"Peeves," she said simply, by way of answer. "Are these the new first years?"

"That they are, Professor O'Tifty," the man said.

"Thank you. Come with me," she said, ushering us inside the castle. Sam clung nervously to my arm as we walked through what must have been the Entrance hall. We arrived at the doors to the Great Hall. Professor O'Tifty turned once again to look at us.

"You will soon be walking through these doors. The rest of the school is in this room, awaiting your Sorting. We will sort you into one of the four houses here: Ravenclaw, Gryffindor, Hufflepuff, or Slytherin. These houses will be like your family during your stay here; you will sit with your house, eat with your house, sleep in the house common rooms, and have classes with your house. Your successes will win your house points, while any misbehaving will lose your house points. The house with the most points at the end of the year will win the House Cup, which is the most distinguished honour a house can win. I shall be back in a moment to fetch you. Wait here." She turned and walked in through the doors. As soon as she left, the group broke out into nervous whispers.

"How are we _Sorted_?" Sam asked worriedly.

"My dad said we've got to fight a troll," Fred muttered quietly.

Everyone around paled, but I just laughed. "Dad said that's exactly what Uncle Fred told Uncle Ron before his first year." I told him. "But Dad didn't want us to worry - he told us how it works."

"How?" Sam asked, at the same time Lew asked Fred: "You have the same name as your uncle?"

"Uncle Fred died in the Battle of Hogwarts," Fred explained quietly. "He was Dad's twin."

"Oh," Lew said very softly, looking very sorry that he'd asked. "I'm sorry."

"It's alright," Fred said with a shrug. "So, James, how _are _we Sorted?"

I opened my mouth to answer. At the exact same time, someone from the group gave an extremely girly shriek, which must have produced the "highly amusing" (my friends were laughing their heads off) effect of me looking like I'd just screamed like a girl. Ignoring them, I turned to look in the direction of the shout and saw, highly unsurprisingly (I don't know _why _she shouted) hundreds of ghosts drifting past. I spotted one with a ruffled collar and grinned.

"Oi! Nicholas!" I shouted. He turned to look at me, and then drifted over to where we were waiting.

"Hello!" he said pleasantly, smiling at Sam's dumbstruck face. "You must be James Potter?"

The whole group went silent at the mention of my name. I pretended not to notice.

"How'd you guess?" I asked curiously.

"You look exactly like your grandfather," he explained.

My grin widened. My granddad was my secret role model. Secret, because if Dad found out he'd probably wipe my memory of Granddad Potter's existence. "Thanks, Nicholas!" I said. Nick waved goodbye, floated towards the man he'd been talking to, and the group of ghosts disappeared through the wall separating us and the feast.

"Nearly Headless Nick," I told Sam, who had opened her mouth to ask. "Gryffindor ghost. He prefers to be called 'Sir Nicholas de Mimsy Porpington,' but where's the fun in that?"

"Hogwarts has ghosts?" Sam asked worriedly.

"Yeah," Fie said casually. "But it's Peeves you'd better watch out for. Peeves the _Poltergeist._"

"You're doing that on purpose!" I told him angrily as Sam paled.

"What?"

"Scaring her!" I turned to Sam. "The ghosts are all friendly, and Peeves is alright. He just likes to play jokes, Peeves does."

"Are you going to tell us how we're sorted?" Lew asked impatiently.

"Oh yeah!" I remembered. "There's this hat-"

But I was once again interrupted. The Professor opened the door.

"Follow me," she said shortly. We walked quickly after her, toward the front of the hall, where there was a dirty, fraying hat sitting on a three-legged stool. All the heads at the tables turned to stare at us, and Sam shrank closer to me under the stare of so many eyes. Our group stopped a little bit in front of the stool. We all watched the hat.

"What-" Sam began.

"Shhh!" I hushed her. "Listen."

We all watched as a rip in the hat's brim opened. The hat started to sing:

Long, long ago in the far-off past

A new idea was forming

In the minds of two witches and two wizards, who

Soon developed this thought they were courting.

The four of them began a school

To teach our nation's youth

The ins and outs of wizardry

Now here's the well-known truth:

Said Gryffindor "We'll take the brave

Strong, chivalrous and loyal."

Said Hufflepuff "We'll take the honest who

Are not afraid of toil

Slytherin took those pure of blood,

The clever, sly and quick.

Ravenclaw took thinkers who love

To learn and use their wit

But then they thought,

"How will they choose,

When we are dead and gone?"

They found me and

Gave me a brain

Now when you put me on,

I'll tell you where you ought to go

For I've seldom chosen wrong.

The whole hall burst into applause as the hat bowed to each of the tables in turn before going still. Professor O'Tifty stepped forward with a long role of parchment.

"When I call your name, please step forward to put on the hat. "Andrews, Amanda."

An energetic looking girl with short blonde hair stepped forward. She sat down, put on the hat, and waited a moment. Then: "Gryffindor!" The Gryffindor table burst into applause. I saw Victoire - gorgeous as ever - clapping mildly.

"Austen, Louis!" O'Tifty called. The boy walked slowly forward, sat down, and O'Tifty placed the hat on his head. It sat on his head for a little while before shouting: "Hufflepuff!" The Hufflepuffs all cheered.

"Barnes, Samantha!" Sam clamped her fingers around my arm in fear.

"You'll be fine," I assured her quietly. I pointed to Victoire at the Gryffindor table. "You see her?"

"The blonde one?"

"Yeah. She's my cousin. If you're sorted into Gryffindor, just tell her you're my friend and you can sit next to her. Good luck!" I nudged her forward. She walked very slowly toward the stool. She sat down, and a few moments later, we heard it shout "Gryffindor!" I yelled for her as the Gryffindors celebrated. I watched her protectively as she went to sit down next to Victoire, who sought out my eyes to confirm Sam's story (she was used to people lying to her to win her trust, because she was so beautiful). I smiled and gave her a thumbs up.

"Brady, Kagan!" was next. Kagan grinned, waved at us, and ran, literally _ran _to the stool, _jumped _onto it, and _yanked _the hat onto his head. He shouted "Gryffindor!" before the hat got a chance to. "Gryffindor!" it agreed seconds later. Kagan jumped off the stool and ran to the Gryffindor table amongst cheers and much laughter.

"Cadwalader, Lewellyn!" O'Tifty called, and Lew winced at the sound of his full name. "Lew," I heard him correct her quietly as he walked past. He sat calmly on the stool as the hat was placed on his head. The hat had barely touched him when it shouted "Gryffindor!"

Two more kids were sorted, one to Ravenclaw and one to Slytherin. Then a girl, "Creevy, Rebecca," was sorted into Gryffindor. I stood between Marco and Fie, watching as more kids were sorted. We had decided to count the Gryffindors, so we really didn't pay much attention to the other three houses. We watched as "Finnegan, Bella," "Hall, Maria," and "May, Anna" also became Gryffindors. Then Fie's name was called, and he strode confidently up to the stool.

"Gryffindor!" He walked over to the table amongst the loud cheering of Sam, Kagan and Lew. A few more people were Sorted, and then

"Potter, James!"

I suddenly felt as though I might be sick. All of my insecurities came rushing back. _What if I wasn't put in Gryffindor? _I had let my new mates quell my fears on the train, but now that they were so close… I tried to keep a calm look on my face as I walked up to the stool. I sat, and the hat hit my head.

"Another Potter, eh?" said a voice in my head (which sounded remarkably like the Sorting Hat.) "I was wondering when I'd get one of you. Your mind reminds me of your grandfather. I know _exactly _where you belong. Gryffindor!" It shouted the last bit to the whole hall. The Gryffindors cheered as I walked over to their table, feeling like my old self again.

"We told you so!" Lew shouted happily from his seat next to Sam. He scooted over so I could sit between them. She shot me a small smile, and I grinned back.

"Congratulations! Victoire said in her shimmery, slightly French voice.

I watched as another student was Sorted, and then Marco's name was called. I watched him walk toward the Hat, looking quite nervous. I really didn't blame him. All five of us were in Gryffindor. I hoped fiercely that he was too.

"Gryffindor!"

We all cheered loudly. He walked to us with a look of relief written all over his face. He sat down across from me at the table. We watched as more kids were Sorted into the four Houses. "Spiten, Bartholomew!" became the last Ravenclaw, "Thomas, John!" the last Gryffindor, and finally there was "Zabini, Chris!" (Slytherin) and the Sorting ended. The Headmistress stood up.

"McGonagall!" I whispered excitedly.

"You know the Headmistress already?" Lew whispered back in surprise.

"She comes round to our grandparents' house for holidays and birthdays and stuff."

"The Headmistress comes to your holiday parties?" Kagan whispered impressed.

"Well, she got awful attached to my family, what with the Order of the Phoenix and fighting Voldemort and stuff."

"And who wouldn't love to party with the saviour of the Wizarding world?" Fie asked.

"As interesting as your conversation must be-" McGonagall interrupted us testily. We all looked up. She was glaring at us. "-I would like to make some announcements. would like me to tell you that duelling in the corridors is prohibited, and that a list of all banned items may be found in his office. Finally, I would like to remind students that, the Forbidden Forest is just that: forbidden, unless there is a teacher escort. She glared at me again when she said that. I waved back energetically. For some reason, she looked extremely put out about it. "That is all I have to say. Enjoy your feast."

The golden plates in front of us filled suddenly with foods of all kinds. Sam's eyes grew large at the sight of so much appearing all at once. We piled our plates to the rim, and I think I ate more than I'd ever eaten in my life, including at Granmum Weasley's house. Once we all finished, the plates disappeared and McGonagall stood up again.

"First years, you will kindly follow your prefects to your new common rooms, where they will show you to your dorms. Goodnight!"

We all stood. There was a huge flood toward the door. Sam grabbed my arm again as the people converged all around us, pushing the two of us tiny first years all over. We were finally able to squeeze out the doors, and I looked around. There was not a single Gryffindor in sight. I saw not a single Weasley red hair (and trust me, there were a _lot _of red hairs at Hogwarts.)

"p-please tell me we're not lost," Sam whispered.

"We're not lost," I repeated, grinning.

"You're lying!" Sam accused me. I shook my head.

"C'mon, Sam," I grinned evilly. "Do you really think I'd get lost?" I pulled an old, folded piece of parchment out of my pocket. She stared at it.

"How is an old piece of paper going to help us?" she asked almost sarcastically.

I pretended to be offended. "An old piece of paper? My friend, this is no mere piece of paper." I pulled out my wand and tapped the paper, saying, "I solemnly swear I am up to no good."

Ink slowly began to spread across the parchment. I watched Sam's face grow more and more amazed as the ink formed into a complex map of the castle.

"What is it?" Sam asked. I pointed to the top of the paper.

"Messrs. Moony, Wormtail, Padfoot and Prongs Purveyors of Aids to Magical Mischief-Makers are proud to present THE MARAUDER'S MAP"

"Where did you get it?" she asked in awe.

"I nicked it from Dad's dresser drawer," I told her. I searched for my friend's dots.

"Where did _he _get it?"

"Donno," I muttered distractedly. I had already found Marco's dot and was now trying to find a route from the common room to us. "He's never even acknowledged it's existence. Uncle George told me about it." I pointed the common room out to her. "There's the common room. We'll have to go this way-" I drew a path with my finger, "- to get there. C'mon."

I led her quickly through the corridors, past all the different portraits (she kept staring at them like they weren't supposed to be move- oh. Right. Muggleborn) up several flights of moving staircases, and arrived at the portrait of a fairly large woman.

"Password?" she asked.

"Dang it!" I muttered. I knew I'd forgotten something. We didn't have the password.

"Now what do we do?" Sam asked.

"We sit," I said cheerfully, flopping down on the stone floor, "and wait."

We sat outside the portrait hole for a good fifteen minutes. Then the portrait swung forward and we heard a voice from the inside.

"You are absolutely _sure _they didn't come up with us?" an older boy asked.

"Positive," Lew said, sounding slightly worried.

"First day as a Prefect and I lose two first years," the unknown voice muttered. "O'Tifty will have my badge _and _my head." The blonde boy stepped out of the portrait hole and nearly tripped over us.

"Hi!" I said in a sarcastically jovial voice. "Nice of you to drop by. Can we come in now?" Without waiting for a reply, I pulled Sam into the common room.

"James!" Victoire shouted. She ran (or as close to running as Victoire ever came) over and hugged me. "Uncle Harry would have killed me if we'd lost you!"

"Oh for Merlin's sake!" Dominique sighed in exasperation. "He's not a baby."

"Yeah!" I agreed, half embarrassed and half annoyed. "You're acting like I got lost on a field trip to the Forbidden Forest or something. I'm not going to _die _in the middle of Hogwarts." I wriggled out of her arms. "Besides, dad says it's the safest place in the world." I said this as though it settled the matter.

"C'mon James!" Lew said impatiently, grabbing my arm. "I'll show you our dorm."

"And I'll show you ours," Bella said, pulling Sam after her.

Lew led me up the staircase to our dorm. "We've already claimed beds," he informed me as the opened the door.

They had. There were seven beds in the room. John Thomas had the bed nearest the bathroom. Kagan was across from him, and Marco was next to Kagan. Fie had set up next to Marco, and Fred had set up next to Fie. Lew was in the bed next to John, which left the bed next to Lew empty. My trunk was already at the end. Everyone was putting on their pyjamas, so I opened my trunk and pulled mine out too. We were all suddenly exhausted. I climbed into bed and was just about to take my glasses off when I saw something carved into the wooden bed frame.

"Lew," I whispered. "Lew, come look at this."

"Wha'?" he asked sleepily, getting up and crossing to my bed.

"Look," I said again. I pointed to the carving.

"_James Chrysanthos Potter_

_slept here."_

"You've already carved your name into it?" Lew asked.

"No! No, no, no!" I said, excited. "My middle name's Sirius. Lew, I think this was my Granddad Potter's bed!"

It took a moment for that to sink in. "Whoa," Lew finally muttered. "I wonder if any of these other beds belonged to his friends?" There was a strange tone in his voice that I couldn't place.

"I don't know," I muttered quietly. "We'll have to check them tomorrow."

"Yeah," he murmured back, climbing back into his bed. "G'night, James."

"Yeah, night," I replied, pulling off my glasses. I lay there and thought for a while.

_My granddad slept here, _I told myself, not able to stop myself from grinning. _I'll never meet him, but there's his name, carved in to _my _bed. I could have gotten any of the other beds, but I got this one. _The feelings of homesickness that had been building up inside of me floated away, and I fell asleep, looking forward to tomorrow.

(A/N)

MelodyLPotter: That's okay. I don't really need anything much, just a word or two to tell me someone's reading.

Becca: Thanks so much! =D

VintageRose503: They're kind of going to be co-leaders. Like James and Sirius. Lew is more of a take-charge person, and James is more of a get-everyone-involved person. Like, Lew will just start leading, whereas James tries to get everyone to co-lead at the same time. Lew does what he thinks is best, James asks for opinions… does that make any sense?

Hurricane Jackson: Thank you! I'll try to update as much as possible, especially over the summer.

SamIAm: Hahaha. No, it's not a small one. =P If you are who I think you are, I love ya! If you're not… sorry for scaring you.

Doctor Brittana Banana Who: Lucky! I'm jealous. I'd love pointers on British life if you'll give them!


	10. Thestrels

**(A/N) School's out for the summer! I'm so excited! I can't promise more regular updates, but I promise that I'll try my darndest. I'd like you all to know that I love you! Even if there's only five or six of you! (as the reviews seem to indicate) Really, I don't need much. You don't even have to like it. But if you read it, review, PLEASE! =( *puppy dog eyes* **

**Anyway, I'd like to put out there right now (I don't know why I'm not going to wait) that I'd really appreciate help on Sorting Songs. Like, the whole thing. I've got six more years to go through! =( Also, if anyone has prank/troublemaking ideas, I'd love to hear them. Feel free to send stories, life experiences, or suggestions. I'm open for anything. So anyway, I hope you're enjoying James and his life! Thanks for reading!**

**Ps: I'm only going to say this once: I do not own anything that JK made up herself. Obviously. If I had made it up, why would I post it here and not just get it published? Also, I do not own **_**any **_**of the songs James or his mates sing, unless I state otherwise in my notes (not the story) even if I pretend for the sake of this story that James wrote the song himself or something similar.**

"I can't believe our luck!" Kagan said happily as we changed the next morning. "Our first day of school and it's a Saturday!"

"Which means we've got nothing to do," Fie said as he pulled on his robes.

"We could always find our way to our classes," Marco pointed out. "that way we won't get lost."

I knew we wouldn't get lost -not with my map- but I figured it would be nice to figure out which shortcuts would be best to use.

"I agree," said John, who was putting up a West Ham poster.

"why don't we go after breakfast?" Lew asked as we stampeded down the stairs.

"Sounds good to me," I said absentmindedly, looking around for Sam in the common room. I spotted her sitting in one of the chairs next to the fireplace.

"You coming to breakfast with us?" I asked, standing behind her.

She jumped and turned to see who was talking. "Yeah," she answered, standing. We all followed Lew out of the portrait hole.

"Now, how do we get to the Great Hall?" Lew asked.

"Follow me!" I said, taking the lead.

"How do you know how to get there?" Lew asked.

"It's easier to remember if you had to find the way yourself," I told him, winking at Sam. I wanted to keep my map a secret for a little while longer.

We soon arrived in the Great Hall. Lew looked at me, impressed. He obviously hadn't believed I could lead them. We sat down at the Gryffindor table across from Victoire.

"Good morning!" I said pleasantly, locating the waffles and grabbing a few of them.

"Morning," she answered crankily. Victoire was not a morning person. "what are you planning today?"

"we haven't quite decided yet," I told her.

At that very moment, the sound of hundreds of wings sounded above us. The girl from the night before screamed again, and I noted that it seemed to be coming from the Hufflepuff table. I watched a school owl fly towards me, along with the family owl, a handsome brown barn owl. The school owl allowed me to take his letter, and then he flew off. Our family owl lingered.

"'Ello, Mercury," I said, stroking his head. "Have Mum and Dad sent me a letter _already?"_

Mercury hooted. I untied the letter and ripped it open. It basically said that they missed me already, and to have a good school year. I borrowed parchment and a quill from Marco, and wrote back a quick reply, including a request for Al to help come up with names for my owl. I tied it to Mercury and sent him on his way. I picked up the other letter and ripped it open.

"Who's that from?" Lew said curiously, leaning over so he could read the name.

"Hagrid," I told him. "Gamekeeper," I explained to Sam, who was looking at me questioningly. "He and Dad are really close. Hagrid got Dad out of his house when he was a baby - the night Grandmum and Granddad died - and he was the one to tell Dad he was a wizard, too. He's taken good care of Dad. And now he's invited me to visit today!" I showed them his letter. "Do you all want to go with me?"

"Can we?" Fie asked excitedly. "He could tell us about Harry Potter!"

Victoire stared at him like he was mental. Then she looked at me that way too.

"Ironic, isn't it?" I asked her, grinning at Fie, who turned scarlet as he remembered who he was talking to. "Of all the people I could have befriended, he has to be a Harry Potter fan"

"Sorry!" Fie muttered in embarrassment

I shrugged, showing him that it didn't phase me. "Trust me, I've met weirder. Some teenager, like a fifteen year old, came up to him and asked him out. In front of mom. With us around. His _kids._"

"weird," Lew said.

"Definitely. So do you guys want to come? We can go after breakfast."

"Sounds good to me," Lew said with a shrug. Kagan and Fie nodded as well.

"I thought we were going to map out routes to our classes," Marco reminded us almost sadly.

"We have all weekend," I reminded him. "We could always do it later, or even tomorrow."

"I _guess _we could wait…" Marco agreed.

"Sam?" I asked.

"Why not?" she agreed.

We finished eating rather quickly. Fie was done first, and I could tell he was excited to get all the dirt on my dad.

I said goodbye to Victoire, and we walked down to Hagrid's hut. I led the group up to the door and knocked. They looked suddenly nervous. Perhaps because Hagrid's hut was significantly taller than a normal house.

The door opened, and the five of them jumped back in fright. It was a normal reaction, I figured. Hagrid was almost twice our size, grey hair wild and shaggy. He did look rather frightening. That is, until he smiled.

"'Ello James," he said, pulling me into one of his bone-crushing hugs. "an' who do we got 'ere?"

"Lew Cadwalader, Marco Quinn, Fie Morrison, Kagan Brady, and Sam Barnes," I told him, pointing to each one in turn. "This is Hagrid."

"Good ter meet ya," Hagrid said, his beetle black eyes smiling. "C'mon in."

My mates walked nervously into Hagrid's hut. Hagrid shook Sam's hand on her way to the chairs. "Yer look just like I thought yer would, Sam," he said.

"How do you know?" I asked him.

"Yer Dad writes ter me, you know," Hagrid explained simply, sitting down on his giant bed, as there was a lack of available chairs.

"Oh," I muttered. "Right. So, how's Grawp?"

"He's learnin' arithmertic now," Hagrid told me proudly. "An' he's lernin' to write, too."

"Awesome," I said, grinning.

"Who's Grawp?" Lew asked.

"Hagrid's half brother," Fie answered, seemingly without thinking. "Harry Potter helped take care of him after Hagrid was run out by Umbridge. Taught him English and such."

"How do you even _know _that?" Lew asked him.

"I read it in a Harry Potter interview." He pulled the interview in question out of his pocket. I stared at him.

"What?"

"Do you walk around quoting random Harry Potter trivia at home or something?" I asked him. "Oh, and I also find it quite strange that you carry an interview in your pocket."

Fie went red again. "_And _you find it weird that I'm a huge fan of your dad."

"and there's that," I agreed.

"So how was yer summer, James?" Hagrid asked.

"Mostly good," I told him. "We went to the zoo with "Uncle" Dudley. We got into the snake house and I started making hissing noises. Uncle Dudley ran out screaming!"

"Because of that time your dad vanished the glass?" Fie asked.

I raised an eyebrow.

"Interview," he said guiltily."

"You shun't a done tha'" Hagrid scolded me. "Yer Uncle Dudley's tryin' awful 'ard t'be nicer t'yer Dad than 'e was when 'e was yunger."

"I know…" I muttered. "But they're all so obnoxious! Like at the zoo, the littlest one stole a prize that Lily had won in a game, and the oldest one tried to push Al into a hungry crocodile's cage!"

"I'm sure 'e was jus' jokin' 'round," Hagrid said, his eyebrows pulling together.

"Dad had to use magic to keep him from falling in!" I cried.

Hagrid's eyebrows pulled further together. Then he shrugged.

"The apple don' fal to far frum the tree," Hagrid said wisely.

"I guess," I conceded. "I learned a new song over the summer!"

"Di'jer now?" Hagrid asked, smiing. "An' jus' wha' song migh' tha' be?"

"It's called 'Start a Band'" I told him proudly. "It's got all sorts of complicated guitar solos and everything. My only problem is that it's a duet. But I learned both parts!"

"Di'jer bring yer guitar?" Hagrid asked.

"of course I brought it!" I otld him. "I'd never leave home without it!"

"Well, bring it with yer nex' time yer come ta see me. I'd like ter hear it," he told me.

You've got a guitar?" Lew asked, a grin spreading across his face.

"I've got an electric and an acoustic," I told him. "I only brought the electric, though."

Lew grinned more. "I can play guitar, but I usually play bass."

I grinned. "Excellent! Oi, I've been working on that song. I know it's American, but I'd love some one to play it with."

"Sounds good to me," he grinned. "Anyone else play an instrument?"

"I play piano and keyboard," Marco offered. "Along with a few others.:

"Drums," Fie said with and evil grin.

"Wind instruments," Kagan said. "Any kind."

"Impressive," I said. "So, we've got drums, bass, keyboard, guitar, and a bunch of other instruments. Are you all thinking what I'm thinking?"

"Wait!" Lew said, throwing his hands up to stop us. "Can we all sing?"

"That may be something to consider," I agreed, nodding my head thoughtfully. So is there anyone here who can't?"

For a moment no one moved. Then Hagrid slowly raised his hand, a guilty but teasing look on his face. "I s'pose I'm the on'y one, then."

We all laughed.

"How's Witherwings?" I aekds.

"he's getting on in age now," Hagrid tokd me sadly. "'M afraid 'e won' be 'round fer much longer."

"Poor Witherwings, I muttered.

"I really want to meet a Thestral," Fie said suddenly. "Even if I can't see it."

"Thestral?" Sam asked, and Lew, Marco, and Kagan looked at us questioningly.

"They're creatures than are invisible to most people," I explained.

"I could take you out ter meet 'em," Hagrid offered.

"Dad would kill you for taking us into the forest!" I objected.

"Not if he don' find out," Hagrid argued. "'Sides, they ain't 'armful, Thestrals. Right gentle, them."

"_I _don't see what's wrong with it," Fie said persuasively. "C'mon!"

"To the forest!" Kagan shouted, standing and pretending to weild a sword. He swung it a few times at me, beckoning me to swordfight. I shrugged good-naturedly and fought, Lew making clanging sound effects for us until I managed to "kill" Kagan.

"Can we go now?" Fie asked impatiently as Kagan rolled around on the floor, groaning in his "death agony." He had one last spasam, stuck his tongue out dramatically, and lay still and dead on the floor for a moment before springing up.

"Let's go!" Kagan cried, jumping out the door. Lew and I exchanged a glance, rolled our eyes, and followed him out, Hagrid chuckling merrily behind us.

We followed Hagrid into the "Forbidden" Forest, Sam jumping at small noises. We arrived in the clearing, and Hagrid pulled out the bloody corpse of some animal and threw it to the ground. We stared at the meat for a moment, then I saw it being torn off from the whole in multiple places and disappearing.

"Woah," Marco muttered.

"If yeh cin find 'en, yeh can pet 'em, if yeh'd like," Hagrid told us. Marco started forward as if he were hypnotised, his hand raised. He reached the meat and slowly touched what must have been one of the Thestrals.

"Can you see it, Marco?" I asked curiously.

"Can't you?" he asked.

"hmm-mm" I shook my head. I was concerned, and even a bit sad. Who had my new friend watched die? We were only eleven.

"Woah!" Lew gasped. He stumbled. "It shoved me!"

I felt a gentle nudging on my shoulder. I reached over and patted the bony animal.

"These things are awesome!" Fie said excitedly.

"I don't really like them," I said. "I mean, they're nice animals and all, but-"

Hagrid smiled knowingly. "Yer' dad didn't like 'em either. 'Course, I don' blame 'im. Poor kid."

"James!" a voice called loudly.

"Louis, he's not going to be at Hagrid's already!"

Louis, my 14-year-old Ravenclaw cousin, laughed. "Who'd have thought I know James better than you do, Dom. James is extremely impulsive; do you really think he'd wait even a second? Victoire said he got his invitation first thing this morning."

"I'm not _impulsive_!" I shouted to them.

"Yes you are!" Louis shouted back, laughing. I watched as they made their way over to me.

"These are my cousins, Dominique and Louis," I told my mates. "They're Victoire's little siblings."

Louis, who was platinum blonde and just as handsome as Victoire was beautiful, wrapped his long arm around my neck, pulled me into a headlock, and rubbed his knuckles on top of my head.

"Louis!" I objected, squirming. "Let go of me!" I wiggled out of his grasp, only to be attacked by Dominique. The 13-year-old Gryffindor was strawberry-blonde with Weasley freckles, the only of those three to inherit them. She was beautiful as well, but as she wasn't "movie-star gorgeous" like her siblings, she didn't think so. But there was something unique about her beauty, which many people found even more gorgeous than Victoire's perfection.

"So, what are you all planning today?" Louis asked.

"We were thinking about mapping out routes to our classes," I told him.

"I could help with that," Dom said.

"Oh, please," Louis said scathingly. "I've been here longer than you. I _think _I'd know the castle better than you."

"You've only been here a year longer," Don argued. "And besides, I'd bet I know more than you."

"And _why _is _that?" _Louis aksed back.

"_I _explore the castle by night," she bragged. "bet you don't do that, you goody-two-shoes."

Louis gave up, sticking his tongue out at her childishly. Dom usually won arguments, especially with her siblings.

I grinned evilly. "I don't think we'll be needing help."

They looked almost hurt. "Why?" Dom asked.

"I've got this," I said, pulling out my map.

They gasped, Louis in horror and Dom in happy surprise.

"Is that the map Uncle George always talks about?" she asked excitedly.

"one in the same," I said.

"I should turn you in," Louis said accusingly.

"But you won't," I told him smugly.

"And why not?" he asked haughtily.

"Because you love me," I sang.

He pouted.

(A/N) Sorry for the long wait. I was on vacation. Questions? Comments? Life stories? Sorting songs lying around the house? Tell me about them! Review!

Acknowledgements:

Just-As-Loony-As-Luna: Thank you so much! I love to hear that my writing is appreciated. I'll update as soon as I can. I don't have too much planned, just random snippets and plots throughout James's life. I'll see what I can do this summer.

Bri. P.: Thank you! I suppose I did miss Fred's Sorting. Sorry about that. I realised that I had a lot more Gryffindors than any other house and felt I was being sort of … biased. So I sort of forgot him. Sorry Fred! You know I love you!

Becca: Tanks! I really appreciate your taking the time to review. =D Thank you for being a devoted reader!


	11. The Next Generation of Marauders

**(A/n) Sorry again for the delay in posting. I was on vacation, and we've been busy since then. We've had a few family emergencies, and I've been helping out a lot more around the house. So, enjoy! **

**Disclaimer: If the name "The Next Generation" belongs to any band out there, I'm very sorry. Considering the one in this story isn't real, however, I doubt you'll be competing for money with it. **

It wasn't until we got back to the common room that my map found its way back into the conversation.

"Oy, James?" Lew said suddenly. I looked up from my Gobstones game with Marco.

"Hmm?" I asked, flinching as ink hit my face. I'd lost a point.

"You know that map your cousins were talking about?" he started.

"Does he mean the Marauder's Map?" Fred asked from his seat on the couch.

"One and the same," I told him, pulling it out of my pocket.

"Yeah, that one," Lew confirmed. "What does it do?"

I looked around. The common room was full of people.

"I'll tell you in the dorm." I told them quietly. "C'mon, Sam."

She looked utterly terrified. "B-but that's the _boys _dorm."

"Aunt Hermione went up to visit Dad and Uncle Ron all the time," I argued.

She still looked doubtful, but when we all filed up the stairs, she followed hesitantly.

We sat down on the various beds, and I pulled the map out of my pocket.

"Watch," I told them, pulling out my wand. I pointed it at the map.

"I solemnly swear that I am up to no good."

They watched in amazement as the ink spread out across the parchment, forming the complicated map.

"So _that's _what this looks like!" Fred said in awe. "Dad's explanation didn't do it justice!"

"Is this a map of the school?" Lew asked.

"Yeah," I answered. "This is how we found the common room last night."

Comprehension flickered on his face. "I _wondered _how you did it!"

"What are those?" Marco asked, pointing at the dots moving across the corridors.

"Those," I said, grinning with pride, "are _people."_

"What?" Lew asked excitedly.

"Teachers, students, us," I explained. "The map shows every single person who is on the grounds. And look," I pointed to the one-eyed witch who blocked a secret passageway. "When we get near that, it'll tell us exactly how to get past on the map."

"This is _wicked!" _Kagan said in awe.

I grinned evilly. "And that's not the only thing I've got," I told them. I stood and crossed to my trunk. I pulled out my secret item and showed the rest of them.

"I know what that is!" Lew said excitedly. "Where'd you get an invisibility cloak?"

I grinned as the others looked at me in awe. "It was Dad's. He gave it to me - said it's been in the family for generations."

Lew's face fell. "It can't be very good, then. Dad says they don't last very long."

"But mine's special," I told him. "Watch." I threw it around myself, watching in amusement as their faces lit up when I disappeared. Deciding to take advantage of the cloak, I snuck behind Kagan, gauged the distance, and tackled him. He shouted in surprise as I knocked him off the bed and onto the floor. I got up quickly, making sure the cloak still covered all of me, and scurried across the room, laughing in glee when Kagan tried to tackle me back, only to find I was no longer there.

So he sat and pouted.

"That thing is brilliant!" Fie said happily, as I pulled off the cloak and sat back down.

Lew grinned mischievously. "We could pull some amazing pranks with that," he said.

Marco suddenly looked worried. "Pranks?" he asked.

"We won't pull mean pranks," I assured him. "Just funny ones. And we won't pull them on a specific person unless we know they won't really mind."

"What about people who do something to us first?" Lew asked.

I thought this over for a bit. "I don't know…" I admitted finally.

"I don't like revenge," Marco said. "My dad's always said that '_revenge is just a synonym for stooping down to their level_.'"

"What's wrong with their level?" Fie asked defiantly.

Marco just smiled. "My _mum _has a saying that answers that question."

"Which is?" Fie asked.

"'_Never argue with an idiot. He'll just drag you down to his level and then beat you with experience_.'" Marco smiled again. "Which is why I'm done arguing with _you_."

Fie stuck his tongue out.

"Oy!" Lew said suddenly. "James, we were going to check our beds for carvings, remember?"

"Oh yeah!" I said, excited.

"What are you two going on about?" Fred asked, never liking to be left out of my adventures.

"Look what I found last night," I said, motioning for all of them to come over to my bed. I leaned over and pointed to the words.

"James Chrysanthos Potter…" Marco read. "Who is that?"

"My granddad," I told them. "My dad's dad. He slept in this bed!"

"So I thought we should check the other beds to see if they had carvings too," Lew told them.

They all went to their beds, searching them for carvings. Sam stood uncertainly at the end of my own bed.

"Why don't you go check John's bed?" I asked. I pointed to it, and she went to check it.

"_Remus John Lupin slept here_," Marco read a little bit later. "Who's Remus Lupin?"

"Wasn't that kid in your house named Teddy Lupin?" Sam asked, straightening up.

"Yeah," I confirmed. "Teddy's dad must have slept in that bed."

"Mine says that _Sirius Black _slept _here_," Lew told me. "Didn't you say Sirius was your middle name?"

"Yeah. Sirius Black was my Granddad's best mate," I told them. "And my dad's Godfather."

"This one says Peter Pettigrew," Sam told me.

I frowned. "I haven't heard of him," I admitted. "But the other three were the best of friends. In fact, they were the Marauders."

"You mean Marauders, like the Marauders' Map?" Kagan asked.

"Yep," I said. "They were really, really close friends."

"Really good friends…" Lew mused, and I could tell he was thinking about something.

"What're you thinking about?" I asked him.

"We're all really good friends, right?" Lew asked.

We all looked at each other for a moment. "Yeah," we all agreed.

"Then why don't _we _sign our names, too?" he asked. "We can be like the second group of Marauders. Only we need a different name."

"But something similar," I said, catching onto what he was saying. "So that everyone knows we're like the new them."

"Exactly," Lew said with a grin. "But let's carve our names first."

"Wait," Marco said quickly. "What about Sam? She won't be sleeping in any of these beds…"

We all thought about this a while.

"How about this," I said finally. "We all sign our own beds, and then tonight we can carve our group name and all of _our _names on the common room door. That way we can sign our beds, but all of our names can be together too."

"That…" Lew said slowly," sounds like a good idea!"

The others nodded in assent.

"So what are we going to call ourselves?" Fred asked.

We sat in silence for a long while, thinking about what to call ourselves. This was the hardest part of anything: Coming up with a name. What to call ourselves? My mind kept attempting to wander. Marco pulled out a notebook.

"What're you doing?" I asked him.

"I've found that writing down my ideas helps me focus and come up with better ideas," he explained. "I write down every idea, even the stupid ones. It really helps."

And it must be a pretty good strategy, too, because within ten more minutes, Marco spoke up.

"I've got it!" he gasped suddenly.

"What's your idea?" I asked.

"Okay, so, James Potter was your grandfather, right?" he clarified.

"Yeah…"

"So he was the _last _generation. And _we're _the _new _generation. The _Next _Generation of Marauders!"

"That… that's brilliant!" Lew said happily. "Why didn't we think of that?"

"The question is," I said slowly, "are we going to keep our identity a secret?"

"What?" Kagan asked.

"Like, are people going to know _we're _the Next Generation of Marauders? Or are we going to keep that little bit a secret?"

"I reckon we should keep it a secret," Fie decided. "Why?"

"I was thinking that The Next Generation could be a cool name for a band, too," I said.

"Well, we can still use that too!" Lew said.

"That'll give us away!" I said indignantly.

"No, listen!" Lew insisted. "Our pranking name will have "of Marauders" in it! So yeah, everyone'll know it's us, but they won't ever be able to _prove _it," Lew said. "We've just got to be _really _careful to never get caught."

"He's got a point," Fred agreed, nodding.

"All in favour of the name 'The Next Generation of Marauders,' raise your hand," I said, leaving it up to a vote.

It was a unanimous yes.

**(A/N) I'm sorry. I know it was sort of short. But that just seemed like the natural end of the chapter. **

**I'd really appreciate any of these things:**

**1. Prank Ideas. I'm not clever enough to come up with enough of them myself! **

**2. Sorting Songs. It was hard enough to write the first one!**

**3. Any other input into the story. Ideas, thoughts, whatever**

**! Please! Even if you hated it. I just want to know how many people read this story!**

**Also, I've written a one-shot called "One is the Loneliest Number." It's about Remus, and it should be up shortly. Please read it!**


	12. The Carvings

**(A/N) I have a question. Is there anyone out there who would like to Beta this story? I'd especially love a British Beta, or a Beta who's REALLY good with British culture. One who is good with the culture as well. It'll hep the believability of my story **_**and **_**help **_**me **_**learn more as well. **

**Also, I would like to apologise for the HUGE gaps between chapters. I am suffering from such a bad case of writers block that I can sit here for an hour and only get a paragraph done. And then I'm bored, and no good writing can come from that. Anyway, here it is. Enjoy!**

We decided to carve our names into our beds after everyone had gone to sleep. Then we were to meet in the common room at midnight to carve our names into the door. Marco had found a really neat spell that would let us hide the carvings pretty well. Someone would have to be right up against the wall to see them. I was, I admit, _very _excited about this. One thing that had always saddened me was that my grandparents had never gotten to know the three of us, nor us them. This made me feel closer to my Granddad Potter, and that gave me a strange feeling inside, caught somewhere between loneliness and comfort.

"Ready?" Marco's soft voice pulled me out of my thoughts. We all nodded. Fie pulled a carving knife (I worried about why he had it) out of his pocket, and each of us took turns carving our names, speaking them as we did.

"Lewellyn Mabonagain Cadwalader." Lew screwed up his face in disgust at his name. I chuckled to myself.

"Your parents like long names, don't' they Lew?" I asked him.

"Stuff it," Lew muttered grumpily under his breath, carefully but forcefully shoving the knife into Kagan's hand.

"Kagan Robert Brady." Kagan handed the knife back to Fie.

"Fie Tarran Morrison," Fie said in his Scottish accent.

"Fred Gideon Weasley," Fred carved his name. "Named after one of my Great Uncles, Gideon Prewett." He handed it to Marco.

"Marco Galahad Quinn." Marco carved his name without another sound and handed the knife to me.

"James Sirius Potter." I handed the knife to Sam. We'd decided that she'd be last because, as Lew put it, "Everyone saves the best for last." We had all laughed.

"Samantha Marie Barnes," She carved her name with a certain artistic flourish.

We looked over the names and decided we liked Sam's carving skills best, so we let her carve our group name at the top.

"We who are gathered here" she stated, "Lewellyn Mabonagain Cadwalader, Kagan Robert Brady, Fie Tarran Morrison, Fred Gideon Weasley, Marco Galahad Quinn, James Sirius Potter, and Samantha Marie Barnes, will be here on and forever after known also as The Next Generation of Marauders. By carving our names on this wall, we have promised to stick by each other no matter what, and to abide by any rules that may be added, by mutual consent, at a later time." With that, she handed the knife back to Fie.

"That was one wicked speech, Marco," I said impressedly. "And kudos to you for memorising it that fast, Sam!"

"Thanks!" they said together.

"So…" I whispered conspiratorially, "what is our first prank going to be?"

"And when?" Fred asked excitedly.

"we'll talk about that tomorrow," Marco muttered with a yawn. "Because if we're going to plan out our routes to classes, we're going to need some sleep."

"He's right," I agreed finally. "We'll talk about this later."

We said our goodnights and clambered up the stairs to bed.

The next morning I was woken by Lew, who was grinning down at me.

"We've all got about twenty minutes before the Great Hall stops serving breakfast," he informed me. I flew out of the bed and got dressed. James Sirius Potter does NOT like to miss meals.

Once we had all finished eating, (and by this I mean the food disappeared), Marco pulled out his schedule and looked it over.

"So, why don't we plan out the routes on the map, and then walk them so we know for sure where they are?" he suggested.

"Sounds good," I agreed. "But we have to do it somewhere secret. I don't want anyone else to know about my map."

"We could try the kitchens," Fred suggested. "I know how to get into them."

"Thank you Uncle George!" I cried.

They looked at me weirdly.

"He's the one who told you how to get in, right?" I clarified.

"Yep!" Fred said happily, motioning for us to follow him. He led us down the staircase outside the hall.

"Don't the Hufflepuffs come this way?" Marco asked.

"The kitchens are really near the Hufflepuffs," Fred threw back over his shoulder. "I think that might be how the Fat Friar got so fat while he was alive."

"The Fat Friar?" Sam asked.

"He's the Hufflepuff ghost," I told her.

"And Ravenclaw has the Grey Lady," Fie told her. "Slytherin's got the Bloody Baron, and we've got Nearly Headless Nick."

"And we've _all_ got Peeves!" Lew groaned, pointing. Along zipped Peeves the Poltergeist, his black hair sticking out oddly from under his bell-topped hat.

"Ooh! Ickle Firsties!" Peeves cackled. "What fun!"

"Hey, Peeves!" I said with a grin. "Oi, I've got information from Dom that Filch is going to be in the fourth floor corridor across from the statue of King Arthur." I pulled a few dung bombs out of my pocket. "How about some target practise?"

Peeves snatched the bombs from my hand and flew off down the corridor, shrieking with laughter.

"And _that, _my friends," I said with a bow, "is how you deal with Peeves."

Lew stared at me in awe. "You're a genius, you know that Potter? A bloody genius."

"Why thank you!" I said happily, nodding in his direction. "Now Fred, I was under the impression you were taking us to the kitchens?"

"Right!" he said, shaking himself. He bustled on forward.

"What was that?" Sam asked me, obviously thinking of Peeves.

"Peeves is a Poltergeist," I told her. "Loves to cause mischief. He also loves to annoy Filch, the caretaker, so if you ever want to get rid of him, you've got to figure out a way to help him do that."

"Or you could just hide under an invisibility cloak and pretend to be the Bloody Baron," Fred said with a laugh.

"Why?" Kagan inquired.

"Peeves is frightened of the Bloody Baron," I explained. "Other than him, Peeves listens to no one."

"Really?" Sam asked in surprise.

"Poltergeists don't care about what other people want," Fie explained. "Fred! How much farther?" he whined.

"Not much farther!" Fred called from the front of the pack.

A few minutes later, Fred stopped in front of a giant painting of a bowl of fruit.

"Ta-Da!" Fred sang. "The entrance to the kitchens!"

"Fred…" I said slowly, as if speaking to a small child. "This is _fruit_."

"No…" the redhead said, matching my tone exactly. "This-" he tickled the picture of a pear, "- is the entrance to the kitchens."

We watched in awe-stricken silence as the pear giggled and the painting swung forward.

"Wicked!" Fie whispered.

"Alright, everybody in!" Lew said, motioning us all forward. We filed in, and he followed at the end, the painting swinging closed behind him.

Without warning, many small creatures surrounded us.

"How may we help the young masters?" they asked.

"And missus!" one piped up.

"What are these?" Sam asked.

"We is house elves, miss!" one of them said happily. "How is we to help you?"

"We'll need a table and enough chairs for the seven of us," I said. "And a few snacks to tide us over."

"Yes, sir!" they cried. Within seconds, a table was set up with snacks sitting on it.

"Mmm! Chocolate!" Kagan said. I put some on the waffles the elves had kindly provided. I love waffles.

We sat down around the table and I pulled out my map, unfolding it and setting it in the middle.

"I solemnly swear that I am up to no good."

Once again, the map showed its secrets.

We sat there for a long while, tracing secret passages until we were pretty sure we had the shortest routes through our whole schedule.

"Now all we need to do is walk them!" Marco said. So we did.

We finished our excursions just before dinner, so we headed down early to the Great Hall.

"Oi! Cousin!" Dom called from the end of the Gryffindor table. "Come sit with us!"

We walked over to sit down.

"This is Jonah, and this is Marie," Dom introduced us to her to friends. "You two, these are my cousins James and Fred."

"Ah, the Prankster Pair!" Jonah said with a grin, holding his hand out to both of us in turn. "We hear a lot about the two of you."

"They are my two favourite cousins," Dom said with a smile.

"You know what they say…" I started.

"Birds of a feather," Fred said.

"Flock together!" the three of us finished together.

"Who are your friends?" Marie asked.

"Lew, Marco, Kagan, Fie, and Sam," I introduced them.

"There are a whole lot of Firsties this year," Jonah commented.

"I guess everyone waited until eleven years ago to decide it was safe enough for kids," Marie said with a shrug.

"My parents certainly did," I agreed. "And I'm glad. I like being the oldest."

"Lucky you," Dom pouted. "I don't like being youngest at all. And Louis takes the whole 'protective older brother' thing way too far. I don't need protection."

"Oh, yes you do!" Jonah said with a smile. "From yourself!"

Dom slapped him. "So did you get all your routes _mapped _out?" She winked at me.

Jonah shook his head. "With all you Weasleys around, we're going to have a lot of this 'inside story' stuff, aren't we?" Dom, Fred and I just grinned at him. Fred batted his eyelashes innocently.

Marie shook her head. "Your family is mad, Dom."

"Maybe that's why we all get along so well," Dom suggested.

"So, which classes are you looking forward to?" Marie asked.

"Potions!" Marco responded at once.

"Defence!" Lew said excitedly.

"Same," Fie agreed.

"Charms!" Kagan said. Fred nodded in agreement.

"And I can't wait for Transfiguration!" I said, grinning broadly.

Jonah chuckled disbelievingly.

"What's wrong with Transfiguration?" I asked defensively.

"Nothing!" he assured me. "I just figured, with who your Dad is and all, that you'd be looking forward to Defence most."

"My Granddad was best at Transfiguration," I told him. "And I think it sounds amazing."

He shrugged. "I suppose that makes sense."

Marie looked at Sam. "You haven't answered yet."

"I don't really know much about the classes," she said with a shrug.

We sat at the table with Dom and her friends, talking long after the food had appeared. We sat there so long that our Head of House, Professor O'Tifty, had to come and shoo us back to the common room. My mates and I set ourselves up around a table that Victoire kindly enlarged for us and began to plan our first prank. We went over idea after idea, none of them sounding right. Marco pulled out his magical (term used metaphorically) notebook again, but it was Lew who figured out a good one.

"What if…" he began with an evil grin. "We change all the Slytherins' robes to Gryffindor colours?"

We all exchanged a glance. "That sounds wicked!" Fie said quietly. "When?"

"Tomorrow?" Lew suggested.

"How about we wait until the Gryffindor-Slytherin Quidditch match?" I countered. "It's usually the first match of the year. And we can change the _whole school_'s robes -even the teachers' - and everything."

Lew nodded slowly. "Excellent plan, mate. But how are we going to manage it?"

I looked sheepishly at the rest of them. "I was hoping you guys could come up with something."

Fred sniffed, pretending to cry. "Is- is that all I am - all _we _are to you? A research team?" He sniffled again and looked at me with puppy-dog eyes.

I looked at him, pretending to be offended. "How could you say that? Of course not!" I grinned evilly. "You're my personal servants, aren't you?"

Fred glared at me and stood up. Before I could realise what was going on, he tackled me to the ground and began to tickle me.

"S-s-_stop!" _I gasped through my laughter. "P-please! S-stop! I was laughing so hard my eyes were streaming with tears.

"This is a lovely thing to know…" Kagan said conspiratorially. "James is _ticklish!"_

I groaned through my laughing. _Great. Now they all know._

"Um, guys_?" _Marco muttered quietly. "We're getting weird looks."

Fred stopped tickling me to look around at the other Gryffindors, some annoyed and some merely amused by our antics. I took advantage of his momentary distraction to escape. He glared and came at me again. I hid behind Marco, who somehow managed to stop Fred with a glare. Fred sat back down and stuck his tongue out at us both, pouting.

"_Thank… you…" _I panted, trying to catch my breath.

Marco just grinned. "What are friends for?" he asked.

I glared at Fred.

"Hopefully not the same thing as cousins."

**(A/N)Sorry for the rather short chapter. It seemed like a really good place to end it. I promise to begin working on the next chapter as soon as this one is up.**

**Again with the names! =D I love them. So, here are the meanings for those who care.**

**Mabonagain: Scottish. A Knight**

**Galahad: English. Pure, Noble, and Selfless**

**Tarran: English. Thunder**

**Robert: English. Bright Flame**

**So, I recently stumbled across a fic in which the writer asks questions in order to get to know her viewers. So I will do the same, giving my own answer for each question as well. They will not be too personal (I won't ask for names or anything like that) and if you don't want to answer, don't feel that you need to. This is for fun only.**

**Question of the chapter: Are you a guy or a girl? For those of you who don't know / haven't guessed, I'm a girl.**


	13. Defence

**(A/N) I'm SOOOOO sorry this took so long! =P I have a super-bad case of writer's block, and to add to my misery, I've also been making them a schedule based on a sample one I found on a role-play site. I now feel immensely bad for anyone who has to do this as part of their job. It's bad enough when you do it willingly. Also, I got caught with an idea for a new story. It's called Photographs, but I won't be posting it until it's finished. (That way I can give you regular updates) It's a Harry Abuse fic starring one Remus Lupin. =D _This has been edited slightly._**

Monday came too fast. As excited as I was for my classes, spending time with my mates was much, much better.

We ate breakfast quickly, anxious to get to our first class- Defence Against the Dark Arts with Professor Boot. I was most excited for Transfiguration, that was true, but I was excited for DADA as well.

"Defence Against the Dark Arts, here we come!" Kagan said excitedly as we left the Great Hall. I rolled my eyes at him good-naturedly. We walked with the other Gryffindors; we didn't want to use our passages that obviously. We wanted them to stay secret. Arriving at the Defence classroom, we tried to no avail to get seats together. We had Defence with the Ravenclaws, plus there were approximately 10 (give or take a few) kids in both Houses for our year, so there were a lot of kids. Finding seven seats together wasn't possible. I sat with Sam, Fred, and Lew, while Marco, Kagan and Fie sat with John across the room. We chatted with the people around us for a good ten minutes before class started.

"Wands out, please," was the first thing the teacher said when he walked into the room. He was tall, muscular, and, when he got to the front of the class, turned to look at us with an amused expression written on his young face. "Are you all deaf?" he asked with a chuckle. "Wands out, please."

We stared at him. Finally, a Ravenclaw boy spoke up. "Sir, we don't do magic on the first day."

"Well, Mr. Marcs, that may be true for other teachers. However, I am sure that in every other class today, you will be taking notes and learning theory. Not my idea of a fun class. So I said to myself, 'Terry, why not branch out? Let the kids have some fun on their first day of classes?' So I thought we'd try out a practical lesson. If it doesn't work out, then hey, at least we tried. Now, wands out please."

This time there was a flurry of movement as we all pulled out our wands. "There we go!" Professor Boot said approvingly. "Now, everyone find a partner, and follow me. We're going to need a bigger room." Lew claimed me, grabbing my arm, before Fred could even try. Fred stuck his tongue out, and we laughed. We followed Professor Boot through the corridors until we were across from a tapestry of Barnabas the Barmy, who was apparently trying to teach trolls to dance. Definitely barmy if you ask me.

"I got this idea from a very competent Defence teacher in my time," the Professor told us. "He used to bring us here."

_Is he talking about Dad? _I asked myself as the man walked back and forth in front of the wall three times. A door suddenly appeared, and I leaned closer to Lew.

"The Room of Requirement," I whispered to him. He nodded.

"Everyone in!" the Professor said happily. We walked in, and I looked around. It was a rather large room, with little other than cushions.

"This is the Room of Requirement," Professor Boot said. "It gives you whatever you need. We'll be working on a simple disarming spell today, so the cushions should catch anyone who gets knocked over."

We all looked at each other warily, but I figured none of us would be able to do much anyway.

"Stand in two lines, about ten feet apart, and face your partner," Professor Boot said. We did. "Good. Now, we'll practise the word first. Say it with me. "Expelliarmus!"

"Expelliarmus!" we repeated.

The Professor smiled. "Very good. Let's say it a few more times until we've got the hang of it. Our pronunciation must be perfect if we want the spell to work."

We had to say the incantation a few more times before he was satisfied.

"Alright," he said, still grinning. "Now let's move on to the wand motion. _Without _speaking first, please. We don't want any mishaps. I don't need angry parents after my hide." he grinned at his joke. "Now, the motion is rather simple. Watch closely." Professor Boot moved his wand in a tight spiral around his hand. **(1)** We mimicked this, and he took a good fifteen minutes to walk around correcting our technique. I quickly got bored with waiting, so I decided to try it myself.

"Expelliarmus!" I shouted, spinning my wand and pointing it at Lew. His wand flew out of his hand and hit the wall before clattering to the floor. Everyone turned to stare at me. Professor Boot was looking at me amusedly.

"Did I not say we were practicing _without _the incantation first?" he asked.

"Yes sir," I said meekly.

"However," he said with a grin, "I have never seen a person get it right the first time. Excellent job, Mr. Potter. Twenty points to Gryffindor. Carry on!"

Boot walked over to me. "That was very impressive, James. I honestly have never seen _anyone _accomplish a spell the first time they tried it."

"Thank you, Sir," I said, smiling.

"Keep practicing," he said, and he walked to the centre of the room. "Alright, everyone, I think we're ready to try it for real!"

* * *

I left the class in high spirits. I had been the only one to accomplish the spell. Lew, however, had somehow managed to make my shirt fly off, and I was very glad he hadn't been aiming a bit lower.

"I can't believe you actually did it, James!" Sam said excitedly. "That's really impressive! I couldn't figure it out at all!"

"I bet Uncle Harry'll be real proud of you, mate," Fred said with a grin.

"I still can't believe I did it," I admitted to them. "I was honestly worried I'd be rubbish."

"With who your dad is?" Lew asked incredulously.

"Just because my dad is brilliant doesn't mean _I'm _going to be," I reminded him. "Besides, him being famous just makes it worse. I feel like I've got so much to live up to."

Marco shook his head. "Your dad wouldn't expect you to," he reassured me. "I mean, people say he's as powerful as Merlin. Stuff like that happens only once in a thousand years."

"And anyway," Lew went on, "we're living in a time of peace. Even if you _are _as good as your dad, there might never be a reason for you to show it. We'll never know." He grinned at me. "I think you're going to be wicked powerful, mate."

I grinned at them. "Thanks," I said as we reached the Charms classroom. "That means a lot."

We had Charms with the Hufflepuffs. It turned out that the class was nothing more than notes on theory. In fact, Professor Boot's prediction came true, and all of our other classes were like that, even Potions. It was rather boring, but also somehow tiring. We returned to the Common Room exhausted that evening, but we didn't stop to rest. We merely grabbed our notebooks and went to the library.

We had a prank to plan.

**(1) This is the motion the HP wiki says is most often used in the movies. Feel free to correct me if I'm wrong.**

**(A/N) Sorry this was so short! Again, that just felt like a really good place to end it. I have two things for all my readers tonight. First, what country are you from? I am from America, which is alright, I guess. I'd say I'd rather live in Britain somewhere, but I don't know what life there is like, and I'd rather not wish for something if I'm not sure it's what I want, ya know?**

**Second, I'd love if you would send me a list (as many as you'd like) of ways to beat writer's block, because I've been struggling with it for the past few chapters. I'd love tried-and-true ideas, or just stuff you find. Anything's good.**

**Thank you for reading!**

**Mamsmelk: **Thank you! =D I'm glad you like it! By the way, even I simple "I like the story" is good for a review. Then at least we know you read it! =D


	14. Mutare Colorem

(**A/N) Thank you to my friend Jacob for telling me I needed explosions.**

**I'm sorry once again for the long space between updates. School is being evil, taking up my time. Not to mention I'm part of the school newspaper, Model UN, the Spanish Club, Key Club (community service) and play piano. I also get distracted reading other people's fanfictions. Once I start one, I can't put it down. So I apologise again. May I have forgiveness?**

Our first week of school turned out to be, in a word, effortless. At least it was for me. My mates didn't have such an easy time of it. I had already gotten seven letters from my parents -every morning - and had even heard back from Al on the name for my owl. I didn't think it would take him so long, but then again, he was probably busy getting an extra-early head start on his school lessons again. I was surprised; his letter was actually rather helpful.

_James,_

_I've been thinking about what you asked me, and I found a few names you might like. I figured you'd like his name to have a meaning and, knowing how much you love America and everything to do with it, I found these:_

_Arkansas, which means southern wind. _

_Ahusaka, the Winnebago word for wings._

_Jalen, meaning bird of light._

_Keanu, meaning cool mountain breeze._

_Makani, meaning the wind._

_Mongwau, meaning owl. Though that one may not be subtle enough..._

_Muraco, meaning white moon._

_Ohanzee, meaning shadow_

_Tuari, meaning young eagle._

_I'm hoping these were helpful. Write me when you choose a name for him._

_Your brother,_

_Albus S. Potter_

_P.S. I found a name for Sam's owl as well. I don't know her quite as well as I know you, but I think it suits the owl perfectly._

_Blayze, meaning spitfire._

_Perfect, isn't it? Say hi to our many relatives for me, and Hagrid and Neville, and Sam, and... Well, just say hi to everyone for me, okay James?_

I grinned to myself, standing up. If he wanted me to say hi to everyone, then I would...

"Oi!" I shouted, loud as I could. Everyone stopped to stare at me. "My brother Al says hi!" I told them.

"Please sit down, Mr Potter," McGonagall said almost wearily.

I shrugged. "He told me to tell you all." I sat back down.

"I'm surprised he wrote to you," Sam told me. "You two didn't seem to get along very well."

"We argue," I admitted. "But I wrote him first. I asked him for a few suggestions for a name for my owl." I showed them all the list. "Oh, and he has a suggestion for your owl, too, Sam."

"Blayze..." she read to herself.

"Spitfire," I said, "is the perfect word to describe her, Sam."

"She's sweet!" Sam argued.

"Are you forgetting that she tried to take my head off the first time I met her?" I asked.

She sighed. "I guess you're right. But I like the name Blayze anyway. It suits her."

I looked over the list again. "I sort of like Arkansas. It sounds cool. Arkansas..." I said the last word quickly, smoothly. "It's perfect. I'll tell him."

"Tell him I say thank you!" Sam told me.

"And tell him we say hi!" Lew added.

I quickly scribbled down my return letter.

_Al,_

_Thanks for the names! It was hard to choose, but I picked Arkansas. It suits him, don't you think? Also, Sam likes the name. She says thanks._

_I told everyone you said hi. They looked at me strangely, but that's all right. My new friends say hi!_

_The BEST child,_

_James._

"The best child?" Louis' voice came from behind me. I turned to see him reading over my shoulder. "I highly doubt that, James." He ruffled my hair. "But then, who am I to decide? You aren't _my _kids." I heard him add "Thank Merlin" under his breath.

"What are you doing over here?" I asked him.

"I just came to say hello," he said. "and to tell Victoire and Dom that Aunt Gabrielle is having a second baby."

I grinned. "Tell her I say congratulations."

"Will do, Jamie," he said, ruffling my hair again as he walked away.

"He likes doing that to your hair, doesn't he?" Kagan asked.

"Yeah. He's been doing that since before I can remember. I think he's jealous."

"Why?" Amanda Andrews jumped into our conversation. "He's got such nice, blonde hair..." she trailed off, looking after him dreamily.

"I don't know for _sure, _I told her. "For all I know, he could be trying to annoy me. We'll never know."

"Is he your cousin?" Amanda asked.

"Yeah. I have a lot of those." I nodded my head to Fred, who was, at the moment, talking with John and Rebecca. "Fred's my cousin."

"How many cousins _do _you have?" Marco asked interestedly.

"Let's see..." I muttered. "Victoire, Louis and Dom belong to Uncle Bill and Aunt Fleur, Uncle Charlie doesn't have any kids, Uncle Percy has Molly and Lucy, Uncle George had Fred and Roxanne, Uncle Fred died, and my Uncle Ron and Aunt Hermione had Rose and Hugo. So that's..." I counted the fingers I had held up, "Nine."

"Wow," Kagan said, his eyes going huge. "You've got a giant family."

I grinned. "Dad said that's what happens when you marry a Weasley."

At that very point, a large "bang" sounded from a bit farther down the table. We all looked to see a chagrined Bella Finnegan covered in smoke, her bangs smouldering.

"I was trying to turn it into rum!" she apologised.

John was laughing. "My dad's best mate used to blow things up all the time."

"Who's your dad?" she asked.

"Dean Thomas."

Her eyes went wide. "My dad is Seamus Finnegan!" she told him excitedly.

I grinned. "They were dorm mates with _my _dad, you know," I informed them.

They both nodded. "Your dad _is _famous," John reminded me.

I stuck my tongue out at him before turning back to my friends. "Bella's Dad was very well known for making things blow up," I informed them. "Almost every time he did magic, the first time he tried, something would explode."

"Wicked!" Fie said. We all stared at him. "What?" he asked defensively. "I like explosions!"

"They are kind of cool," Kagan agreed.

* * *

The time passed rather quickly. Before we knew it, the first Quidditch match was coming up. Somehow, through the years, the Gryffindor-Slytherin match had gone from first to last. I figured that this was done in order to increase the suspense and excitement surrounding the last match.

We had found the spell we were going to use some time in September, and our plan had been finalised by the beginning of November. We had been looking forward to this day for a long time. Our plan was finally going through.

It was a simple plan, really. Marco, who was far more into his academics than the rest of us, was going to ask our Potions professor, Professor Calloway, a question about our homework for that night. While he was up there, he was going to plant a Decoy Detonator (a Weasleys' Wizard Wheezes product, of course) under the Head Table. During this time, Lew, Kagan, and I were going to position ourselves at one end of the Ravenclaw, Hufflepuff, and Slytherin tables, Fred, Sam and Fie at the other end. When the Detonator went off, we would cast the spell on our table, turning all of their robes, scarves, and ties red and gold. We would then quickly seat ourselves again, and no one would know who did it. I had something else up my sleeve, but that was a secret.

Going down to breakfast the morning of the match, we made sure to act as tired and lethargic as always, even though we were hyped up on adrenaline. We sat down at our normal spot and waited for the rest of the school to be seated. When the Hall seemed full, I nodded to Marco, who stood, a look of determination on his face. I sincerely hoped he changed it by the time he got to Professor Calloway. The rest of us stood and made our ways slowly and casually over to our stations, waiting for the Detonator to go off. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Louis stand up and walk over to Lew.

_Dang, _I thought worriedly. If he didn't leave before the Detonator went off... we'd be in trouble. I wasn't sure any of us were strong enough to cover a whole table by ourselves... but no. He was leaving... and not a moment too soon. I heard the loud _bang _and saw the smoke. Nearly everyone jumped up and started shouting.

"Mutare colorem rubeum et auri," **(1)** I whispered quietly, flicking my wand upward. I stayed only long enough to see that the spell had worked before running back to my seat. I watched my mates run back as well. With all the chaos going on around us, no one noticed, and we stayed standing so as not to draw attention.

"Did we all succeed?" I asked them.

"Obviously I did," Marco said, sounding offended.

"I wasn't asking _you," _I told him, rolling my eyes. everyone nodded, and I sighed in relief. Up at the Head Table, the smoke had cleared and everyone - at both the Head and House Tables - was sitting down. We sat down too. Suddenly, people were shouting.

"My tie! It's red and gold!"

"My scarf! My robes!"

"What's going on?"

"I look like a bloody Gryffindor!"

I watched in interest as McGonagall leaned down to pick something up. It was a few seconds before I realised it was the Decoy Detonator. I sucked in a breath.

"WEASLEY!" she shouted.

"Yes?" Fred, Dom, Victoire and Louis all called back.

"_Fred_ Weasley," McGonagall practically growled.

"What'd I do, Professor?" Fred asked innocently.

"_This," _she held up the Detonator, "is one of your father's products, isn't it?"

"Hang on, Professor," Lew said quickly. "You surely aren't blaming Fred for this just because his dad invented it, are you? I mean, their shop is really popular. Anyone here could have bought it."

McGonagall sighed. "I suppose you're right, Mr. Cadwalader."

"Of course I am!" he said smugly.

"Well, if Mr. Weasley didn't set this off, who did?" she asked.

I figured this was the perfect time to show off my idea.

"Flagrate,"** (2)** I whispered.

Several people gasped.

"Look!" some Ravenclaw cried. McGonagall turned around. Written in flame on the wall behind the Head Table was a message.

"_We did"_

"And who are 'we', exactly?" McGonagall asked angrily.

"_We are the Next Generation, madam. The Next Generation of pranksters. The Next Generation of Marauders."_

I watched with glee as McGonagall went white. "No," she moaned, sounding almost pitiful. "Please, no. Not more of them. Please."

"_I find it rather amusing that a woman as strong and brave as yourself is so afraid of a group of pranksters."_

"You have no idea," she said. "They were impossible! And we were never able to discover for certain who they were!"

"_Let us hope that is true for us as well, yes? Now, I believe there is a Quidditch game today, so shall we not finish breakfast?"_

The words lingered for a second before vanishing. Everyone sat still and stared at the place they had been.

"Well you heard it!" Fred shouted. "Let's eat so we can start the match!"

The other three houses were a bit disgruntled, to say the least. Especially the Ravenclaws, who would much rather be wearing their own house colours so they could support their team. The school grumbled angrily as we walked our way down to the pitch, but my mates had something else on their minds.

"That was a neat spell, Marco," Lew said, grinning.

Marco looked confused. "What spell?" he asked.

"The words!" Lew reminded him.

"I didn't do that," Marco said with a confused frown. "I thought you did it."

"Who actually did it?" Kagan asked. "Because Lew's right, it was a pretty wicked spell."

I grinned. "It was me."

"Why didn't you tell us, James?" Fred asked incredulously as we climbed the stairs in the stadium.

"I wanted it to be a surprise," I explained.

"Well, it definitely was a surprise," Fie said with a smile. "Didn't You-Know... Voldemort," he corrected as I glared at him, "use that spell in front of your dad once?"

"I guess," I shrugged. "Honestly, Fie, it's kind of creepy that you know more about him than I do."

He grinned sheepishly. "Sorry. I can't help it. He's so cool!"

I rolled my eyes. "Whatever you say, Fie," I said, sitting down on one of the seats. Sam sat on one side of me, Lew on the other. Fie, Fred and Kagan were in front of me. Marco was behind me, and soon Dom's friends joined him.

"Where's Dom?" Marco asked them.

"She's a Chaser," Maria informed him.

"And a bloody good one, too," Jonah said. "You lot planning to go out for the team next year?"

"Which positions are open?" Lew asked curiously.

"All except Dom's," Jonah told him.

"All of them?" I asked incredulously.

"All the other positions are filled by seventh years," Maria told us. "Dom got her position last year, and she was the only new member of the team. She'll be captain next year."

"I'll probably try out," I agreed.

"Me too," (and three and four and five and so on) We were all planning to try out.

"You can't all make it," Maria said logically. "One of you won't be able to get on the team, and that's only if no one else from Gryffindor makes it."

"Stop being so logical," Lew complained. "You're depressing me."

Maria rolled her eyes. "Well _excuse_ me."

Their conversation was suddenly interrupted when the commentator, fifth year Gryffindor Leyana Rider began to speak.

"Good morning, Hogwarts!" her magically amplified voice rang out. "Welcome to the first Quidditch match of the 2015 school year! On the north side of the stadium we have our Ravenclaw team, comprising of Chasers Kenneth Browne, Christina Beck, and Louis Weasley,"

We cheered for Louis, even though he was on the other team.

"Beaters Neil Devlin and Nicolas Ruby, and Keeper Toby Kimel. Captaining the team is Seeker Jeremiah Donahue!" The team walked onto the pitch at this point. The Ravenclaw stands erupted into cheers. I noticed the Slytherins cheering as well (obviously they weren't rooting for us)... _and_ most of the Hufflepuffs? What was that about?

"On the opposite side of the field we have the Gryffindor team, comprising of Captain Zachary Meyers and his fellow Beater Steve Perry, Chasers Brielle Michaels, Abner Moore, and Dom Weasley," - we all cheered again - "Keeper Jessica Montez, and Seeker Kimberly Ash." The Gryffindor stands erupted with cheers, but we were the only ones, save for a few Hufflepuffs. It was rather embarrassing, to tell the truth.

"Why is it that no one cheers for us?" I asked the older kids behind me.

"Well, to put it bluntly, our team is rubbish," Jonah said. "The captain, Zach? He's an okay bloke, don't get me wrong, but he recruited the team all wrong. Recruited his mates instead of talent. I'd say Dom is the only good player on the team, and the only reason she even made it is because Zach ran out of mates."

"Plus," Maria added, "we have a right nasty group of sixth years in our house. Complete prats, if you ask me."

"Bullies, they are," said a Scottish fourth year from behind her. "Don't discriminate between Houses, though. Attack everyone equally, they do."

"Because that makes it so much better," Maria said rather sarcastically. "A bully is a bully, no matter who their victim."

"The match is starting!" Lew interrupted us excitedly, staring fixedly at the field with rapt attention. We all instantly turned to watch. He had called just in time- Madam Hooch threw the Quaffle in the air just as I turned my head back toward the field.

"And it's Ravenclaw in possession, Chaser Christina Beck flying fast as lightning toward Gryffindor goal posts. She passes to Browne, who passes - Ouch! He's hit with a Bludger sent his way by Gryffindor's Steve Perry! That had to hurt. Now it's Abner Moore with the Quaffle. Blocked by Browne, he passes to Michaels, who drops it!"

There was a collective groan from the Gryffindor stands, then-

"I don't believe it! What a miraculous catch by Dominique -sorry, _Dom _- Weasley! She streaks up the field, only to be hit by a Bludger from Ravenclaw's Neil Devlin! She barely fumbles, but in that few seconds, the Quaffle is grabbed by Louis Weasley, her brother!"

Maria leaned forward. "Dom and Louis have a huge Quidditch rivalry. They actually play rather viciously against each other."

Fred and I laughed. "Why doesn't that surprise me?" I asked. Suddenly the whole stadium exploded.

"And Louis Weasley scores! The score is now ten-zero Ravenclaw!"

The rest of the game was, in a word, disappointing. I could see now why no one cheered for Gryffindor; Ravenclaw won 320 to 40. Dom had played well, though, so my mates and I went down to congratulate her.

"Great game, Dom!" Fred called to her as she trudged rather sadly back toward the castle.

"Why do you say that?" she asked, sounding depressed. "We lost, as per usual."

"Well, yeah, Gryffindor played like rubbish," I admitted. "But _you _played well!"

She smiled. "Thanks, you two. How did I end up with such great cousins?"

"'Twas fate!" I answered dramatically, throwing an arm around her shoulders. "I say, to celebrate a game well done, we sneak out to Hogsmeade!"

* * *

(1) Mutare colorem rubeum et auri is, quite simply, "change colour to red and gold" in Latin. Or so Google says.

(2) I found this spell on harrypotterspells (dot) net. It is not mine.

**(A/N) Thank you for sticking with me thus far! I hope you don't hate me for being so slow to update! Did this longer-than-normal- chapter make up for it? Yes, no?**

**Another question... Who is your favourite Harry Potter character and why? Mine is Snape. If you really want to know why, say so in your review, because if I start telling you now, I'm liable to go on a rant, and I'd rather the word count not be **_**too **_**misleading.**


	15. Chapter 15

**(A/N) I know, I know, I know! I'm awful! I didn't mean for it to be this long! I didn't! I'm sorry if you've lost interest in this story because of me, but please don't give up on it! It's my first fanfiction. Moreover, I'm not really in a James-y mindset right now. My muse has also vanished into thin air. And I've found that writing in first person really isn't my forte. But I will not abandon this story. EVER. I promise. I hope you enjoy!**

"Hogsmeade?" Dom asked. "It's not Hogsmeade weekend, though."

I smiled. "Who cares?"

"But what if we get caught?" Marco – always the responsible one – asked worriedly.

"We won't!" I assured him. "Even if they see us, no one will say anything. It's the weekend; it's not like we're skipping classes. And besides, people have better things to do than babysit eight students."

"And how, exactly," Marco began as we walked through the doors to the castle, "do you expect to sneak eight people through the corridors and out of the castle without being caught?" We began to climb the staircases to Gryffindor tower. "Especially with Professors walking around everywhere."

"I've got it covered," I told him with a smile. "Literally."

"Hang on," Lew said, holding out a hand, palm forward, like he was actually trying to stop someone from moving. "How do you expect eight of us to fit under one Invisibility Cloak?"

"Good question," Kagan said with a disappointed frown.

"We'll go in shifts," I told them. "I'll take two people at a time to the entrance of the passage, and keep going back and forth until we're all down there."

"That might take a really long time, though," Marco reminded me.

I just shrugged. "It'll be worth it, though," I said wistfully. "I've always wanted to visit Hogsmeade."

Fred and I exchanged a look. "Honeydukes!" we said together.

"I'm surprised that you don't want to stop by the joke shop," Lew said with a smirk. "Over your pranking days already?"

"Of course not!" Fred gasped, pretending to be offended. "My dad owns that shop. I can get anything I want for FREE. And besides, all the employees know me, and James, and Dom. They'd recognise us in an instant, and tell my dad."

"Your dad doesn't sound like the type of guy who'd care, though," Kagan said in confusion.

"My dad wouldn't," Fred agreed. "But my mum would."

"And then she'd tell our parents," I said, gesturing to myself and Dom. "And we'd be dead. I doubt our parents would be happy about us sneaking out."

"I guess you're right," Lew said, sounding sad, and I realised that he wanted to go.

"You guys can still go," I assured him. "Fred, Dom and I can just wait for you somewhere."

"Like Madam Puddifoot's?" Fred said with a wink. I backed away quickly.

"Sorry, Fred, but I'm not like that. Besides, incest is wrong, even if it's cousincest."

Fred looked taken aback for a moment before grinning. "But we must keep the pureblood lines going!" he said dramatically.

"Grandad Weasley would murder us if we married purebloods," Dom said with a laugh.

"What is Madam Puddifoot's, anyway?" Sam asked.

"It's a scary place," Fie said dramatically. "Full of happy, snogging couples and confetti – throwing cherubs."

"But only on Valentine's Day," Kagan added.

"Or so we hope, mate," Fie said with a sigh. "Or so we hope."

"It's really just a frilly, girly tea shop where blokes only take their dates if they want to please them, maybe snog a bit," I explained. "It's rather disgusting – lacy and pink and blech." I shuddered. "I won't go there unless there's some unforeseen circumstance."

"Like what?" Lew asked.

"Like if I had a choice between going in there or being eaten by giant, mutated bunny rabbits," I told him. "No, wait… I'd still take the rabbits."

We all laughed. Someone cleared their throat in what was obviously annoyance. I looked up to see that we had stopped outside the portrait hole, and that – judging by the impatient look on the Fat Lady's face – we'd been standing there a while.

"Wumbo," Sam said, and the portrait swung open. I grinned widely.

"Professor O'Tifty sure has a sense of humour, doesn't she?" I asked. "I wonder how she's seen SpongeBob?"

"SpongeBob?" Lew asked.

"It's a television show about a talking sponge who lives in a pineapple underwater, annoys his neighbor, and is actually rather stupid. The show is hilarious." I told him. "Your life is not complete if you haven't watched SpongeBob."

"Maybe she's Muggleborn?" Marco suggested.

"Was SpongeBob on when she was a kid?"

"It aired for the first time in 1999," Marco told us.

"Hmmm…"

The Fat Lady gave another impatient huff, so our conversation ended and we clambered through the portrait hole.

"I'll go get the cloak." I ran up the stairs. John was in the dorm room when I got up there.

"Where are the other guys?" he asked.

"Down in the common room. We're going outside. I'm the only one who doesn't have their cloak." I grabbed mine, wrapped the Invisibility Cloak inside it, so no one could see, and went back.

"Alright, then. Let's get on with it, shall we?"

It took me a good few trips to get us all of us down to the One-Eyed Witch statue. It was rather annoying, actually. There had to be a better way to do this. Dom did a head count when we were all down in the secret passage. I guess that, as eldest in the group, she must have felt responsible for us.

"Everyone here and accounted for?" I teased. She glared at me.

"We're all here, mate," Lew said.

"Alright then, let's not just stand around here all day."

The group of us made our way through the dark passage. It was extremely long. I wondered if we'd get to Hogsmeade in time to _do _anything.

I knew from Uncle George's stories that the passage let out underneath Honeydukes, in the basement. I spent the entirety of the trip trying to figure out exactly how I was going to get a huge group of eight through the basement and into the store _without _getting caught. It seemed impossible, but I'd decided a long time ago that the word was not part of my vocabulary.

We _finally _reached the trapdoor – Lew wacked his head on it – and Kagan, impulsive as always, reached up to open the door and go bursting through.

"Wait!" I shouted.

"Why?" he whined.

"We can't just go barreling through random doors without checking if the coast is clear!" I reminded him. "Besides, that door opens to Honeydukes' basement. What if the owners are down there?"

"How are we even going to get into the store?" Marco asked.

"From what I remember, the entrance to the basement is behind the counter," Fred reminded me. "How are we supposed to get out of here without them noticing us?"

"I've been thinking about that," I informed them all.

"Well then, Mister Know-It-All, what do you suggest we do?" Kagan asked grumpily, pouting.

"I think we need to cause a distraction. Something that will get the owners out from behind the counter, and get the customer's attention."

They looked at me like I was mental.

"No, really! Kagan, you and I can go up the stairs and sneak out - they might not notice just the two of us if we're careful. You make a fool of yourself, and I'll tell the others when it's safe."

"Why _you _two?" Lew asked, disappointed to be left out of the plan.

"Kagan and I look younger than the rest of you," I explained, cursing my father for his genes. "We could easily be nine or ten-year-olds out with our parents."

"I don't know whether to be offended or impressed." Kagan muttered.

"So, Kagan, since you're the dramatic one of the two of us-"

"I thought you took acting classes?" Fie interrupted.

"I do, but I think Kagan will provide more of a distraction."

"Again, I don't know if I should be offended or not," Kagan said, half-glaring at me.

"_Anyway,_" I said impatiently, frustrated by the constant interruptions, "Kagan, you'll go into the middle of the shop and start acting like an idiot-"

"What should I do?"

"Oh, I don't know!" I shouted, throwing my hands up in the air. "Start crying for your mum or something!"

"I'll look stupid!" he objected.

"That's the _point!_" I took a deep breath. "So, anyway, he'll make a distraction – _Don't _interrupt me again –" I said as Kagan opened his mouth. He shut it with a _snap._ "-and I'll give you the signal when it's safe to come up."

"What's the signal?" Sam asked.

"Uh… I'll knock the _Nutcracker Suite,_"I decided.

"You're going to _knock _the _Nutcracker Suite?" _Fie asked doubtfully. "Is that even possible?"

"You don't know me at all, do you?" I asked him with a grin. "Ready, everyone?"

Kagan and I ran up the stairs – quietly – and Kagan snuck out behind the counter. He snuck into the middle of the store, winked at me, and started wailing.

"_Mummyyyyyyyyyyyyy!"_

I grinned as nearly everyone in the store jumped. When everyone was sufficiently distracted, I ran back down the stairs, and knocked.

"Oh. I guess you _can _knock the _Nutcracker Suite,_" Fie said with a small smile as they exited the passage.

"Told you so," I grinned, feeling quite smug. "C'mon."

"Do you know where your Mummy was going next?" the shopkeeper was asking the howling Kagan as we snuck past the counter.

"I-I d-don't _know!_" Kagan wailed. I suddenly realised the huge flaw in my brilliant plan. Dom voiced my worries.

"How do we get him out of that mess?"

Before I could even start to think about it, Sam shoved past me.

"_There _you are, Jonathan!" she said irritably. "Mum and Dad 'ave been looking _everywhere _for you. Should'a known you'd 'ave gotten lost in a chocolate shop. Come _on, _you!" She reached down, grabbed Kagan by the arm, and dragged him roughly out of the shop, Kagan still sniffling. Fie gave a low, appreciative whistle before we followed them out.

"You two were amazing!" Lew informed them when we were outside.

"Your British accent was amazing," I told Sam. "Much more impressive than your mother and sister."

"You're worried about her accent?" Lew asked incredulously. "They were brilliant! Even _I _almost believed them, and I knew what was going on!"

"He's right, you know," Marco informed them. "You played your parts brilliantly."

"I wish I could do improv like that," I muttered jealously.

"It wasn't that impressive," Sam said, blushing.

I rolled my eyes. "Sure it wasn't. You should seriously consider coming to acting classes with me this summer."

"My parents wouldn't spend the mon-"

"I'm sure Dad would pay for both of us," I interrupted her.

"I couldn't-"

"Talent like that deserves to be developed," I told her forcefully.

She sighed. "I'll think about it, James."

We spent at least an hour just walking around the village, without even going into any shops. We finally decided to go into the Three Broomsticks to get a drink. While we were in there, Lew and the other guys decided they wanted to go into Weasleys' Wizard Wheezes. We walked over to the shop, and – after we told them about five times that we were okay with them going in without us – they went in. Dom, Fred, and I just stood rather awkwardly outside the door. I started pacing around, practicing a scene from that summer's play. I was just at my favourite scene – the one where the hero slays the dragon – when I walked straight into someone, nearly knocking him over. I looked up to apologise, but my voice caught in my throat as I took in his face. He looked furious.

"_Do_ watch where you're going." The man's icy grey eyes flashed dangerously. I watched as his eyes hardened. He smirked. "Daddy would be very upset if he _lost_ you, no?" He turned suddenly, swishing his cape around him, and stalked off.  
Dom came jogging over. "Do you know that guy?" she asked worriedly.  
"Not that I know of…" I stared at the man's blonde head as it bobbed out of sight. I shook my head, trying to clear my mind.

The others chose that moment to come barreling back out the door of the shop, finished with their look-around. Seeing the worried look on Dom's face, and whatever weird look was on mine after that strange encounter, they walked over to me.

"What happened?" Sam asked.

"I bumped into some man. He was very… rude."

"What kind of rude?" asked Kagan.

"Like- like he was disgusted to have been run into. He looked at me like I was a slug or something. And then his eyes went cold, and… I think he might have threatened me."

"Odd," Marco said, his eyebrows knitting together. He changed the subject abruptly, for which I was grateful. "Well, it's getting pretty late, guys. Maybe we should start heading back." He threw a sidelong glance at me and asked, "Are you okay?"

"Yeah…"

I had never dealt with a person like that before. Everyone we met when we were out was very nice, sometimes even _too _nice. No one had ever treated me like that before. I didn't like it.

We made our way back up to the school, and I felt a bit jumpy. But for the life of me, I couldn't figure out why

**(A/N) Was the ending to abrupt there? I feel like I have a problem with really abrupt endings. Sorry about that.**

**On to my question: What is one thing about the Harry Potter books/ movies that annoys you? It can be more than one thing, of course, but what annoys you? One thing that annoys me is the rewarding of the extra points at the end of Harry's First Year. Can you imagine what it was like to be a Slytherin? "You guys won! Oh, wait, no, you didn't. I'm just going to crush your spirits in front of everyone. Because Gryffindor is awesome, and you guys suck." I feel bad for the little guys!**

**Anyway, thanks to everyone who read!**

**To my anonymous "American Luna Lovegood fanatic": Thank you for the review! I hope you're not too mad at me for making you wait for the next chapter! I'll take your idea into consideration!**


End file.
